Forever is a Long Time
by premeditated
Summary: Forever; infinite; endless. Love should last forever, but it's never that simple. When four modern girls enter the world of The Outsiders, they find out that everything is a lot more complicated than they first expected it to be. DISCONTINUED.
1. A Notebook?

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders; all credit goes to S. E. Hinton**

**[Chapter One: ****A... Notebook?]**

"Happy birthday, Melanie!"

At the sudden sound of such loud shouting, Melanie Carter leapt back in surprise, toppling over her kitchen stool and landing on the floor with a loud _thump_. The laughter of the small crowd opposite her echoed around the room as she groaned and stood up, rubbing her arm and glaring at them.

"It's not funny!" she snapped crabbily.

"Yes, Mel. It is."

Melanie opened her mouth to argue with the speaker, but stopped short when she actually looked at them: a tall girl with pale skin that held deep contrast to her dark brown, nearly black hair. She wore it short, hanging no further than her ears, but she obviously needed a haircut; she kept having to brush it out of her bright, intense green eyes. It was her friend Carly Moore.

There were so many things that Melanie could have said in response to her friend's comment; things that would have made her seem somewhat intelligent… However, all she came out with was, "It's not my birthday!" (Which, let the record show, was true… Still, it earned her no points in the Witty Comebacks & Sharp Retorts category…)

This ensued another round of laughter from her so-called "family," during which time Melanie's face heated up and her ears burned from embarrassment.

"Well, it's not!" she protested stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"And you think we don't know that?"

Melanie whirled towards the second voice, this time only a little shocked when she saw another of her best friends. Actually, two of them; they were twins. They both had the same stick-straight, chin-length, dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but one (the girl who'd spoken) was slightly taller than the other. It was the only sensible way to tell the two apart; they _claimed_ that one of them had a freckle on their eyelid, and that it was supposed to be the perfect tool for differentiating between the two of them, but no one had ever bothered to check. Who would want to? And anyway, they'd never told anyone whether it was Ellie or Gabriella that had the freckle, so it was really a lost cause.

"Apparently not!" Melanie muttered crossly. She was _trying_ to stay angry; she really was! But it was hard to do so when Ellie was flashing her that amazing, perfectly white smile that lit up her entire face. It could make a movie star jealous.

"See? I _told_ you she'd be grumpy," Gabby grumbled, elbowing her sister playfully in the ribs. Then she turned to smirk at Melanie. "She never was a morning person."

Melanie clenched her jaw, her dark green eyes glittering dangerously as she prepared to fire back an angry response. However, Carly interrupted before she got the chance, stealing the words right out of her mouth.

"Oh, you're one to talk."

Gabby rolled her eyes and crossed her arms impatiently. "I could say the same to you, y'know," she pointed out haughtily.

"Yes, yes! We get it! We all try to strangle each other in the mornings!" Ellie broke in, attempting to lessen the rapidly mounting tension. "Maybe if you'd all drink more coffee, this wouldn't happen so much."

"I hate coffee!" Melanie jumped in immediately, sharing her oh-so-helpful comment.

"Well, you're the only one on the planet, so get over it!" Carly advised. Her tone clearly suggested that they all just drop the subject, and that's exactly what they did.

"If you're quite finished…"

The small huddle of girls all turned to peer incredulously at the tall, broad-shouldered figure of Mr. Carter, who was currently occupying most of the space offered by the hall doorway. His dark, slightly graying hair was shaggy and unruly (just as it always was), and, coupled with the fact that the entire lower half of his face and neck was covered with stubble, it gave him the effect of someone who'd just woken up from a very long nap. Despite this, his warm brown eyes sparkled merrily, and no one could mistake him for sleepy when he wore such a thoroughly amused expression.

"Oh, sorry to call off the show so suddenly…" Gabby muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"We know how much fun it is to watch teenage girls bicker," Ellie added, a bit more politely. She was still annoyed, though; you could tell easily from her tense posture. She was being reserved merely because she was addressing an adult.

He wasn't fooled by Ellie's casual tone, but ne nodded anyway. "Glad you understand. So, anyways, sweetie," he began, turning to address his daughter. She glanced at him somewhat skeptically, pushing a curl of shoulder-length auburn hair out of her eyes. What kind of parent gives their kid a birthday party three months ahead of schedule? "We know your birthday's not for another few months…" He grinned at her as her eyebrows shot up in confusion.

"But we couldn't wait to give you your present!" Mrs. Carter spoke up for the first time, beaming at her daughter as she clapped her hands excitedly.

Melanie's suspicious expression instantaneously melted into an eager one. "What? _Really?_" she squealed, bouncing slightly in place.

Everyone chuckled at her childish display, but Melanie couldn't care less; she just tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for someone to tell her what her present was.

"Yes, _really_," Mr. Carter confirmed once the laughter had mostly subsided.

"Well then, where is it? What is it? Are you gonna _show_ it to me?" Melanie shot off questions rapidly, leaving no space for answers.

"Patience is a virtue!" Gabby finally chimed in, cutting short her friend's chain of interrogation.

"Yeah, one that _you_ don't have," Carly teased, smirking at her own comment.

Gabby rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, but her twin cut in before she could say anything offensive. "And by that, Gabby means that if you don't shut up, you're not getting your present."

Melanie instantly shut her mouth (literally, since she'd opened it a moment ago to respond to Gabby's crude remark) and clapped a hand over it, nodding vigorously to show that she'd gotten the message.

Her friends all grinned and turned expectantly back to Mr. Carter, who still had that extremely amused look spread across his features.

"Alright, alright. Melanie, why don't you and your friends go to the study while I run upstairs and get—"

He never got to finish his sentence. The small gang of teenage girls had already pushed passed him and gone tearing down the hall, chattering excitedly and bouncing all the while (yes, they were bouncing as they ran).

When they'd finally reached the end of the long, narrow hallway, they (quite literally) kicked the door open and burst into the room. All the furniture had been pushed to the sides of the room, creating a spacious, carpeted area in the center of it. The friends all shuffled forward, huddling together and whispering continuously.

"Do you guys have any idea what it is?" Melanie asked hopefully.

"No, he wouldn't tell us!" Gabby hissed in exasperation. "I _still _don't see why…"

"Because everyone knows you'd go telling her the _second_ he wasn't in the room," Carly muttered in response, rolling her eyes as she flicked her hair away from her eyes yet again.

"No, I wouldn't!" Gabby argued, placing a hand on her hip. "Right, Ellie?"

Ellie smirked in response. "Yes, Gabby. You would."

Gabby clenched her jaw and crossed her arms, glowering at the lack of faith her friends had displayed in her secret-keeping skills.

"We _all_ would," Melanie added hastily.

"Yeah, Mel. I'm sure you'd tell yourself what the gift was the minute you found out…" Carly pointed out smugly. She clearly enjoyed picking out the flaws in other people's wording.

"What? Er, no, that's not… I meant—"

Just then, Mr. Carter stepped into the doorway, saving his daughter from having to stutter through a flustered explanation. All the frivolous arguments were forgotten the second they laid eyes on the small pink gift bag swinging gently from his left hand. The group surged forward immediately, eyes shining in anticipation as they tried to peak inside the small paper container.

"What's in it?"

"Where'd you buy it?"

"What took you so long?"

"Can we open it now?"

Everyone was talking over one another, still straining forward in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the present.

"Calm down, girls!" he interrupted, his voice easily surpassing theirs in volume.

They all fell silent immediately, fidgeting and squirming impatiently as they waited.

"Alright." Mr. Carter turned towards Melanie, wearing a confident smile. His eyes were sparkling in that special way they only did when he talked about work… "Melanie, for your fifteenth birthday, I wanted to get you something more special than any old thing you can just buy from a store. So, I made this for you." He held the bag out in front of him, allowing it to dangle as it remained suspended in midair. His eyes were twinkling mischievously as he added, "I hope you like it. We all know you love to read."

Melanie's mind was racing a mile a minute. Her father was a world-class inventor; _anything_ could be in that bag. He'd made it himself, after all.

She could've stood there for hours, just pondering all the possibilities, but she barely had time to give him a questioning look before he dropped the present into her outstretched hands. Her grip tightened on it and she immediately began ripping out the vibrantly colored tissue paper. When the last shred of it joined the careless clumps that littered the floor around her feet, she felt herself suck in a sharp intake of breath. Her fingers were trembling with excitement as she tipped the bag over, letting its contents slide out. She squeezed her eyes shut until the entire thing had been separated from its case. When she finally opened them, in her palms she saw…

A notebook.

Her friends and she exchanged bewildered glances. After a few moments of puzzled silence, she cleared her throat awkwardly. "Er… Dad?"

Her father, still grinning broadly, nodded expectantly.

Melanie gulped. She just didn't have the heart to tell him his gift was, well… _boring_. So, instead, she just stammered, "Isn't this, um… more for… uh… writing… than reading…?"

To her great surprise, her dad just chuckled and shook his head. "No, you'll see. Just open it to the first page and fill out the form. Trust me, I know you'll love it." With that, he winked and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

The small group stood there in a stunned silence, but it only lasted a moment. Melanie glanced down at the dark crimson notebook, then back up at her friends.

"Um, I guess we should—"

"No! Let _us_ fill it out! You still need to be surprised!" Carly interrupted, snatching the gift right out of her friend's hands.

"Hey—" Melanie started to protest, taking a step towards Carly. However, she soon found that her path was blocked by Gabby and Ellie, who had practically materialized in front of her. All three of her friends were huddled over the notebook, forming an impenetrable wall around it. Melanie struggled forward, trying to peer around them, but they weren't making it easy; they were shouting with excitement and shoving each other around as they filled out whatever form was on that page…

Finally, Melanie just gave up and stood to the side of the group, tapping her foot crossly. Her friends' moods had clearly changed; they were all grinning from ear to ear, and literally couldn't go a few seconds without bursting into an uncontrollable fit of girlish giggles… A small shudder racked her body.

"What's taking so long?" she demanded after a few more minutes. The wait was agonizing.

"You can't rush perfection!" Gabby chided, still not taking her eyes of the notebook.

"Ooh, and don't forget, you need to make sure _he's_ there, too!" Ellie suddenly squealed, gesturing wildly at the notebook. "She'll never get over it if he's not!" she added, prodding her sister in the side.

Gabby's face flushed a deep shade of red, about the same color as the notebook, and she opened her mouth to stutter out a retaliation. However, at that moment, Carly's head snapped up.

"Done!" she declared.

Melanie rushed forward to join her friends as the no-longer-required pencil clattered to the floor, forgotten in their haste, but still no one let her see what was on the page.

"Well, now what?" she prompted, glancing around at everyone in turn.

"We close the cover, of course!" Gabby stated matter-of-factly.

"Duh," Ellie added for emphasis.

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just, what's gonna happen when you-?"

"No time for that!" Carly interrupted, yanking Melanie forward by the elbow so that she was closer to the notebook. "Explanations later!"

"What?" Melanie gasped. "But I still don't—"

She cut herself off as Carly flipped back the cover of the notebook. Instantly, the entire room was bathed in an intense, bright light that was clearly emanating from the notebook itself. Everyone averted their eyes, but Carly didn't drop it, or even flinch. Melanie let out a small squeak that probably would've been a scream if she'd been able to find her voice and stumbled backwards, but the others pulled her back.

"Is this _supposed_ to happen?" she screamed over the loud humming that had accompanied the light source.

"YES!" everyone hollered back, their voices all giddy with excitement. Melanie just groaned and gritted her teeth, trying to resist the urge to bolt from the room.

As they waited, the light and heat grew more intense. The humming, too, crescendoed into a loud, nearly tangible vibration that rattled through their skulls and made it hard to maintain balance. At this point, the entire situation was so uncomfortable that everyone, not just Melanie, was on the verge of fleeing the room.

Then, unlike the gradual way in which it formed, the humming abruptly ceased completely and all at once. The intensity of the burning light subsided to a warm, inviting glow that erased all the unpleasant thoughts that had been born from the harshness of the original heat. Everyone sighed in pleasure, relaxing into the comfort it offered.

Then, all too quickly, it began to fade. The warmth quickly dissipated, just as suddenly as it had appeared. When it finally blacked out completely, it left the four girls feeling colder and more alone than ever before, just in contrast.

Gabby was the first to notice it. She slowly and cautiously cracked an eye open as she rubbed her arms, shivering slightly. However, when she caught sight of her surroundings, her eyes snapped open completely, fully alert.

They were somehow standing in a park, in the middle of autumn, as if the seasons had sped forward a few months. It was a picturesque scene: the park was deserted; the trees were all painted in swirling, vibrant hues that ranged from fiery reds to soft oranges to bold yellows. A few early leaves swirled to the ground in gentle arcs; the grass still had some life left in it, glowing a soft, barely visible green… The only thing that ruined it was the city street off to the side, quite near the group.

"GUYS!" Gabby shrieked immediately. "Guys, open your eyes! It worked! We're here!"

Everyone immediately opened the eyes, and all gasped in unison. Melanie was utterly dumbfounded, but Carly and the twins were squealing and jumping up and down, unable to contain their excitement. After a few minutes of waiting impatiently for her friends to cease their idle chattering, she finally interrupted them.

"So, _what_ exactly just happened?"

All her friends turned to gape at her incredulously.

"You mean you haven't guessed yet?" Gabby finally broke the silence.

"No," Melanie snapped.

"Well, geez, Mel… The notebook. It transports you inside _any_ book you want!" Ellie explained with somewhat more patience.

"It… what?" Melanie stuttered. She wasn't sure she heard that right…

"We're _inside_ one of your _favorite_ books!" Carly declared. Then, smirking, she added, "Any guesses?"

Melanie shook her head to clear it, slightly dazed, but still tried to respond. "Um… Is it—?"

However, she didn't get to finish her sentence, for at that moment, a Mustang went racing down the road in a flurry of flashing red paint and screeching tires. There were about four teenage boys inside, all dressed fairly well, with nearly identical haircuts.

At the same time, a rowdy-looking group of older boys, all wearing leather jackets and ripped jeans with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, turned around the corner.

Melanie's eyes widened. "Is that-?"

"Ssshh!" Her friends all shushed her, turning back to watch the exchange with renewed interest and even bigger smiles (if that was even possible).

The Mustang lurched to a stop at the corner just as the other boys were passing it. Everyone in both groups suddenly stopped whatever they were doing to glare at each other. Then, one of the boys in the car yelled a single word that nearly caused Melanie to topple over in shock:

"Greasers!"

They started to speed off, but the leather jacket-clad boys still yelled after them, "Fuck you, Socs!"

Melanie gaped at the corner, even after everyone involved had already sauntered away, completely incapable of forming any coherent thoughts. Meanwhile, Gabby, Ellie, and Carly were screaming and bouncing with excitement, clearly happy to have witnessed it.

"Did they… He said…" Melanie finally uttered after she'd partially located her voice.

"It's okay, Mel," Gabby cooed.

"That was exactly what you think it was!" Ellie added, grinning like crazy.

"But they… Greasers… Curtis…!"

Carly stepped forward calmly and put a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "Mel. Take a deep breath and tell me: What book are we inside right now?"

Melanie took a shaky gulp of air and let it out slowly. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkled as she joined in on her friends' excitement, breaking into a grin of her own.

"…The Outsiders."

* * *

_**Notes: My first story ****ever****! Just so you know, it's mostly for fun… It's not a joke, but don't expect it to be above clichés! It's a time travel story, after all, and it's just a way to get me used to the idea of publishing my work for others to critique.**_

_**Oh, and I'll clarify this now: the girls all live in the year 2050.**_

_**Well, that's all for now…** **More about the notebook will be explained in the next chapter!**_

_**So, what'd you think?**_

_**Stay gold,  
****~Rae**_


	2. A Snap Decision

**[Chapter Two: A Snap Decision]**

"Steve," Ellie declared smugly, smirking in Carly's general direction. "He's our only chance, now, and you know it."

"No! I _refuse_ to believe it! He can't be! _No_," Carly shot back, her intense green gaze cutting into Ellie's confident blue one.

"Oh, believe it." Gabby's sharp, satisfied facial expression mirrored her sister's, so they really did seem like exact carbon copies of each other… minus the eyelid freckle, of course. "If we don't find him, we're not going anywhere."

"No!" Carly yelled again, clenching her fists and glaring murderously at the twins. "You _know_ I hate that hotheaded, dirty, no good…" She went on, mumbling insults that really shouldn't be printed until Melanie finally cleared her throat, cutting the rant short. "_Why_ is he-?"

"Oh, _sure_ you hate him…" the sisters interrupted her, chiming in at the same moment; it seemed they had intentionally waited until she'd begun a separate sentence before arguing with her. They proceeded to high-five without even glancing at each other, both their gazes still trained on Carly. Her face was slowly reddening with both anger and frustration.

"_Yes. _I do_,_" she hissed in a barely controlled tone that was straining to rise in volume. "So, why don't you tell me again exactly why—?"

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Melanie chose precisely this moment, right when Carly looked ready to explode should she not receive an answer to her question, to jump into the conversation. "I think I'm missing something."

Carly clenched her jaw and turned around slowly to face Melanie, her features contorted into an expression far passed what could be classified as 'murderous.' "Yes, Mel. Yes, you are. You're missing—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Ellie warned quickly. "Unless it isn't insulting."

Carly shot her friend an annoyed look, but had to be content to just whip around and dramatically storm off towards a nearby bench, yelling over her shoulder, "Just so we're clear, I left because _I_ wanted to!"

After her friend was out of hearing range, fuming in solitary, Melanie rolled her eyes. "She really needs to give Steve a chance. They're both such hotheads, they'd clash with anyone besides each other."

"I know, right?" Gabby agreed, shaking her head ruefully. "Anywho, you have no idea what's going on, right?"

Melanie shrugged. "Nope. Haven't got a clue."

Apparently, she'd said it louder than she'd intended, because Carly hollered from farther down the park's leaf-littered path, "As usual!" It was a fairly biting remark, but the others were already accustomed to it, and simply ignored it.

"Okay," Ellie began, pausing a moment to collect her thoughts. "When we filled out that notebook's form, it had a section for how we got to meet the characters from the book."

Melanie nodded slowly, the different parts of their plan already forming in her head. "Let me guess: you wrote that Steve would pass by this park shortly after we got here? So that we'd have to talk to him to meet everyone else?"

Gabby nodded. "Yup!"

"But I guess he could come with anyone else, too; we only specified him, but I don't think that means he'll necessarily come alone," Ellie reasoned, stooping to pick up the notebook. It had fallen to the ground, forgotten in their excited daze.

"Could be," Melanie agreed. "And before they get here, is there anything else you guys asked for specifically that I should be made aware of?"

"Um, we got an apartment for all of us to live in," Gabby offered, scrunching her eyebrows together as she tried to recall the information.

"That's it?" Melanie asked in a surprise tone. The twins were known for their overly-complex, well-thought-out plans.

The sisters exchanged a glance, but it was quick as a flash and scarcely gave Melanie a chance to notice it at all.

"Well…" Gabby trailed off, wringing her hands.

"What?" Melanie prompted.

"We kinda—"

"Brought Dallas Winston back from his grave?" All three girls turned to Carly, who had apparently decided the conversation was worthy of her astoundingly amazing commentary.

Ellie scratched her shoulder awkwardly. "Well, when you say it like that, it sounds kinda-"

"Obsessive?" Carly suggested, smirking.

"Would you quit interrupting?" Gabby snapped in response.

"Wait, you really brought Dally back to life?" Melanie had been gaping at her friends throughout their entire exchange, and had only just found her voice.

"Of course!" Gabby declared gleefully, bouncing in place slightly. "Well, him and Johnny..."

"You think this crazy fangirl could last more than a few hours here knowing he was dead?" Carly inquired, jerking her thumb towards Gabby.

"Hey! Since when am I-"

"Don't deny it," her sister cut in. "You know it's true."

Gabby balled her fists, unable to form a defense. "Fine. But I'm not the _only_ obsessed fangirl around here!" she declared, shooting Ellie a pointed look.

Ellie rolled her eyes, unfazed by the (true) accusation. "Sure. You keep thinking that."

"It's true," Gabby muttered defensively. "I'm not the only one who-"

"We're all obsessed!" Carly yelled suddenly. "Didn't we already agree on this?"

The twins glanced at each other, turned their attention back towards Carly, and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess we did," Ellie said, all complacence evaporated from her tone.

"Hey, Mel, you've been awfully quiet. Something wrong?" Gabby looked to her friend, changing the subject casually.

Melanie, however, didn't give a single indication that she'd heard the question. Her green eyes were staring intently towards the street, a slight unfocused quality evident as she absently twirled a strand of auburn hair around her finger.

"Melanie…?" Carly rapidly passed a hand in front of Melanie's face, causing her friend to start and jump back in surprise.

"What?" she asked, her gaze flitting aimlessly from friend to friend.

"What's wrong with you?" Carly asked bluntly.

Ellie shot her a look and rephrased the question. "What were you just staring at?"

Melanie's face brightened up instantly. "Oh! Them." She was pointing to a group of three boys that were making their way down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace. They were still too far away for the girls to make out any precise details (or much besides their height, really), but it was enough for the girls to all stop and stare, much as Melanie had; they were entering the park.

Gabby caught her breath. "Do you think it's…?" Her voice trailed off, leaving her question suspended in a heavy, tense silence.

"Well, who else would it be?" Carly demanded, but even she had a hint of doubtfulness to her tone.

"Anyone else in this town?" Ellie suggested, straining to get a better view of the slow-approaching group.

"Exactly!" Melanie exclaimed. "I was trying to be sure! Because you said it might be only Steve, but if it isn't…" She shrugged.

"There's only one way to find out!" Carly declared, her green eyes glittering with determination. However, she left it at that. She didn't elaborate verbally or by moving a muscle; she just stood perfectly still, squinting at the boys (who could be heard yelling quite clearly, at this point).

"Um… And that would be…?" Ellie prompted, raising one eyebrow expectantly.

"Ssshh!" Carly immediately reprimanded. The others all quieted down, squirming impatiently as the boys drew nearer still. Eventually, after a few painstakingly slow moments, she glanced back at her friends. "It's them."

The twins and Melanie looked questioningly from her to the group of boys.

"How can you be sure?" Gabby demanded.

"The two taller ones keep shoving each other off the path, and the smaller one is just following behind, lost in his own little world," she reasoned. Then, in a slightly disgusted tone, she added, "And did you see the way those girls over there swooned when they walked by?" She gestured towards a tight cluster of teenage girls that was making its way down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. "Who else could that be but Soda?"

That was all the convincing the others needed. They all immediately started chattering aimlessly, forgetting, in their excitement, that they had a maximum of about two minutes before the boys (who they'd now clearly determined to be Soda, Steve, and Ponyboy) passed them.

"WAIT!" Melanie suddenly shouted above her friends' voices. They all ceased talking to stare at her, so she continued at a much softer volume. "What are we gonna do now?"

They all stared at her like she was crazy.

"What are you talking about?" Carly questioned after a moment of this yielded no results.

"Well, they aren't just gonna walk up to us and say 'Oh, hey, it's four girls we've never met before! Let's invite them over to our house!'" She shot her friends a dubious look. "We'd be lucky if they even said hi to us!"

Realization was slowly dawning on her friends, whose confused expressions were quickly melting into ones of distress.

"Well, then, what are we supposed to do?" Gabby exclaimed.

"I just asked that!" Melanie replied. "I thought you guys had something figured out!"

"Well, we don't!" Ellie informed her. "We didn't have much time to think this one through!"

Melanie pulled her hair up like she was about to tie it behind her head, then let it fall back down over her shoulders, a nervous habit she'd picked up long ago. "We have to do _something_! I mean, they're right there! We can't just let them walk past us, knowing that they might've—" She cut herself short mid-rant to stare quizzically at Carly, who hadn't been taking part in the others' panic session. "What are you doing?"

She was stooped over, eyes narrowed and darting around as though she were looking for something. She ignored Melanie's question, instead straightening up in a sudden movement, yelling "AHA!" and clutching something in her right hand.

"Wait, what's that?" Gabby asked suspiciously.

"Carly," Ellie chided, "you know you can't go around stealing things from public parks."

But Carly only waved them off, again focusing all her attention on the greasers that were now a mere twenty feet away.

So, the others looked on in silence as Carly drew her hand back, her features hardened with concentration.

Too late, Melanie saw what she was holding and realized her intent. She took a hesitant step forward to stop her. "Carly! Bad idea! That won't solve anything…"

But she'd already launched the rock into the air, hurling it straight towards Pony's chest.

* * *

_**Notes: Alright, sorry about the delay, everyone! I'll try to be more consistent and frequent with my updates, but no promises... I'm a procrastinator. ;)**_

_**So, this next one's a little short, but I couldn't resist cutting it off where I did. Oh, and I do apologize if the beginning's a bit random; I was challenged by a friend to start this chapter with the word "Steve." How could I say no?**_

_**Stay gold,  
~Rae**_


	3. Gabby's Gamble

**[Chapter Three: Gabby's Gamble]**

"Carly, you _idiot_!" Melanie groaned, slapping her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Who was _that_ supposed to help?"

Her scoldings were, however, drowned out by the laughter of her three friends.

"Carly," Ellie exclaimed between fits of giggles, "that was _awesome_. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're just not as amazing as me. Duh," Carly declared, smirking with satisfaction. "No one else would've—"

"Idiot!" Melanie interrupted again, her tone far louder and sharper. "Look what you did!" She was gesturing madly towards the other end of the park, where Steve and the younger Curtis' still occupied the path.

Carly definitely had a throwing arm; she participated in all kinds of sports, and always prided herself with the astounding speed, accuracy, and strength with which she could throw. Thus, it wasn't at all surprising that when the rock made contact with Ponyboy's chest, he tripped (quite ungracefully, too) and fell to the ground, knocking Steve down in the process. He'd also acquired a good-sized bruise.

That, however, was all expected, as the girls had plenty of prior knowledge concerning Carly's throwing abilities. What had scared Melanie was the fact that the greasers were all picking themselves up off the ground and marching towards them, wearing particularly murderous expressions.

"What the hell are we supposed to do _now_?" Melanie asked frantically, fear resonating in her voice. "This isn't exactly how I pictured meeting them for the first time!"

"So that proves you've thought about it," Gabby snickered, earning a few more laughs from the others.

"Not now!" Melanie seethed, clenching her firsts with frustration. "Can't you _focus_? We're about to be—"

"Relax, Mel," Ellie ordered in a soothing tone. "Carly will think of something."

Melanie turned to glance at Carly suspiciously.

"Oh, it's true! I've already got a plan!" she declared, flashing Melanie a devilish smile.

Melanie's eyes widened. She knew that smile. That was the smile that Carly always gave her right before she did something she _knew_ Melanie would hate.

"Carly," she warned, "whatever you're planning, just don't—"

"Alright, who was it?"

Melanie spun around again as the other girls directed their attention towards the middle Curtis brother. The book didn't lie—his eyes really _could_ be blazing with anger. They were so intense that Melanie nearly flinched away, while Ellie, on the other hand, had to use all her will power to avoid swooning. She was taking in every detail of his appearance, but she kept getting stuck on his eyes… As angry as they were, they were still attractive…

"Yeah, about that…" Gabby began, searching for an explanation that would get them all out of there alive. Yes, they were seriously beginning to fear for their lives; Sodapop wasn't the _only_ one with an intense death glare.

"It was her!" Carly suddenly yelled, giving Melanie a sharp, forceful shove to the back. She stumbled forward in surprise, only managing to catch herself after she'd closed most of the distance between the greasers and herself. Her dark green eyes were sparkling with confusion as she turned to shoot Carly a bewildered glare.

"What was that for?"

"Oh, like you don't know!" Carly scoffed. "You can't just go around throwing rocks at random kids!"

Melanie's mouth dropped open in shock as her gaze shifted from her back-stabbing "friends" (who were now exhibiting a miserable failure of an attempt to conceal their laughter) to the extremely angry-looking group of boys.

"Wait… I didn't—but you—_Carly!_" she finally screamed, the outrage and disbelief coursing through her apparent through the expression she was wearing.

Then, Carly did the strangest thing—she started laughing. And not just the weak, forced chuckles of the victim of a lame joke; these were unstoppable, body-racking spasms of laughter that caused her to double over and very nearly banished her ability to voice a coherent word. Nearly; but not quite.

"Mel…" she gasped as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Just… the look… on your face…"

"It's not funny!" Melanie protested, but already the venom was fading from her voice, being replaced by defensiveness. That was when she lost all hope of winning the argument.

"Yeah, it kinda is, Mel…" Ellie argued, a smile of her own lighting up her features as she at least made an effort to contain her laughter. She was the only one; Gabby, too, had begun laughing too hard to answer.

"Fine," Melanie muttered, scowling. "Good to know I'm here for the comic relief, if nothing else…"

That set Ellie off, so by then Melanie was the only girl not about to fall over from lack of oxygen.

"…This happen a lot?" Steve asked, his glare temporarily replaced by an expression of absolute puzzlement.

"'Fraid so," Melanie answered, shaking her head in wonder. "It never ceases to amaze me, honestly…"

"Right…" Pony interrupted, cocking one eyebrow. "So, uh… Why'd you throw a rock at me?"

This was the first time Melanie really got a good look at him, and it was quite unlucky that she did. He was exactly as he'd been described in the book! …Only better. Was that possible? She decided it must be, since he obviously was… She just couldn't think straight. His eyes really did have green in them!

It took her a moment to realize that Ponyboy expected her to supply him with an answer. Wait… What was the question, again?

"Oh!" she stammered. "Um, uh… N-no! I didn't!" She struggled to form the right words, still a bit dazed. The fact that her friends' laughter in the background was only increasing in volume didn't help much (they'd all reached that point where someone could say "I'm hungry" and it would be the funniest joke in the world). "It was her!" she finally exclaimed, grabbing Carly by her arm and dragging her forward harshly. It was surprisingly easy, as she was only just starting to calm down.

All three greasers were now giving her a strange look, but Melanie still tried to plead her case. "Seriously! I mean…" She trailed off, realizing that she had no way she could possibly convince them she was innocent. Still, she gave it one last attempt, pushing Carly forward and pointing at her accusingly. "Just ask her!"

Carly had officially returned to her normal state of being; in other words, she could stand up without bursting into a fit of hysterical giggles. "Ask me what?" she asked as she dabbed a final tear from the corner of her eye.

"Uh…" Soda looked dubious, but he still shrugged and turned to Carly. "Did you throw the rock?"

Carly didn't even bat an eye. "Yes."

All three greasers stared at her, dumbstruck by her exceedingly normal tone of voice. Finally, Pony vocalized the question everyone had been pondering for the past few minutes: "…Why?"

Carly stared at him incredulously for a moment, as if she expected him to explain the reason for his stupidity. After a while, she answered. "Well," she began in a degrading voice, jerking her thumb at Melanie, "_she_ certainly wasn't going to."

Pony stared at her in puzzlement, as did everyone else. Even the twins had stopped laughing at this point.

"Yeah…" Pony began hesitantly, "but why'd anyone have to throw a rock at me?" He wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't throw another one at him just for asking the question, but it didn't seem like anyone else was about to.

Carly blinked as if she hadn't heard him right. "Well, I wasn't about to throw it at _Soda_," she scoffed, rolling her eyes as if this should've been perfectly obvious from the beginning.

Soda raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know my name?"

Melanie groaned and Gabby sucked in her breath; everyone had been hoping to avoid this particular conversation, at least until later. Much later.

Luckily, Ellie had the perfect excuse already planned. "You're Sodapop Curtis. _Everyone_ knows your name."

Soda smiled at this, but it was Steve who commented first. "Yeah, all the girls…" he muttered, a tinge of envy creeping into his voice.

Carly smirked at him. "Jealous, Randle?"

Steve was too angry to question Carly's uncanny knowledge of everyone's names. "Yeah, right," he shot back. He was obviously lying through his teeth.

"Oo-kay…" Gabby literally stepped between the two, praying that she wouldn't get caught in the crossfire of whatever argument would most definitely ensue. "Let's not fight fire with fire, 'kay, guys?"

"What kind of comeback was that?" Carly scoffed, barely suppressing more laughter and ignoring her friend completely.

"Better than yours!" Steve insisted angrily. "You couldn't even think of one! You just had to make fun of mine!"

"Okay," Melanie muttered to Ellie in an undertone, "even I have to admit that was lame."

"I know, right?" Ellie whispered back. Although, they apparently weren't speaking as quietly as they'd hoped (they all seemed to have problems doing so).

"See?" Carly yelled, gesturing towards her friends with a dramatic sweep of her arm. "The crowd's on _my_ side!"

Steve clenched his fists. He looked so angry that if he were a cartoon, steam would definitely be shooting out of his ears. "Yeah, _your_ friends!" he shouted back.

"That's four against one!" Carly boasted. "I still win, even if they take your side!" she declared, pointing at a very confused pair of Curtis brothers.

Steve glowered at her, unable to retaliate. She was right; she _had_ won. But he couldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing that, could he?

"Who cares, anyway?" It was a desperate gamble, but maybe, just maybe, she'd drop the subject if he surrendered subtly, without losing too much of his dignity…

Obviously, he didn't know Carly at all.

"Ha! So you _admit_ defeat!" she cried gleefully, crossing her arms and grinning.

"Y'know, you're really startin' to get on my nerves!" Steve declared through clenched teeth. He was flat-out glaring at her now, trying his hardest to intimidate her.

Clearly, he _still_ didn't know her.

Carly was immune to intimidation. It was just a fact. Whenever someone tried to frighten her, all it did was infuriate her; much as it was doing then.

"Oh, am I?" she asked, her tone soft, low, and dangerous. Her green eyes were glinting with scorn. "Well, the feeling's mutual."

That was it for Steve; she'd crossed the imaginary line. He was ready to tackle her to the ground. And he would have, too, if the strangest thing hadn't happened at that moment (stranger than Carly's sudden laughing fit, even). It all occurred in maybe ten seconds at most:

Gabby gulped, sensing the impending fight from the tension crackling in the air. She had an idea, but… she only had one shot, and if it failed, she'd look like a complete idiot. Still, she had to try; it's not like she had much more to lose… besides her dignity. And her pride. But things were already deviating from the unspoken plan they'd all sort of… not really agreed on to at least make an attempt at appearing normal! So, she had to go for it, as crazy as it was.

She turned to exchange a quick glance with her sister, and in that moment a silent understanding passed between the two. Ellie's eyebrows shot up and she made a face that clearly (or at least, it was immensely clear to her twin) asked: "Seriously? You're going with _that?_"

Gabby just grimaced in response and hoped it looked convincing. Otherwise, things would only get worse.

Steve took a threatening step forward. So, Gabby scrunched her eyes shut and tried to look faint… Or dizzy. Or both. It didn't really matter, as long as she looked sick. She gingerly put a hand to her head as if it might hurt to touch it.

"Gabby, you OK?" Ellie asked in a very soothing voice. For her part, at least she sounded worried.

"No… I don't feel very good…" Gabby cringed at how childish she sounded, but it seemed to be working; she didn't hear any punches being thrown. She didn't dare open her eyes to check, though.

"Something wrong? Your head hurt?" Ellie continued.

"Yeah… And I feel kinda dizzy…" Gabby muttered in a slightly shaky voice, praying that she wasn't over-selling it. Her mother never bought it when she tried to fake sick and stay home from school… Would this go over any better? She hoped it would. She'd look so immensely stupid if it didn't.

"Great for you," Carly hissed. "Now _move out of my way_ so I can—"

"No!" Gabby suddenly exclaimed, too late realizing that someone with a migraine wouldn't be capable of sounding so forceful. She quickly covered for it, however, by groaning and rubbing her head.

"What?" Carly demanded, already taking another step towards Steve.

"Um…" Gabby stammered. Her mind was going a mile a minute, trying to find a solution. She could only think of one… And it was definitely short of "desirable." She took a shaky breath and prayed that this would look even remotely believable.

And with that, she forced her knees to buckle, cracked one eye open ever so slightly, and willed her arms not to fly out and catch herself as the ground rushed up to meet her.

* * *

_******Notes: A third chapter for you all. And this should have been more fun to read, because it's where the gang actually made its first appearance. :)**_

_**So. Gabby's a bit of a drama queen, huh?**_

_**Stay gold,  
****~Rae**_


	4. Pudding Drought

**[Chapter Four: Pudding Drought]**

"Aw, come _on_, Gabby!" Carly whined, glaring at her friend, who was now crumpled up and "passed out" on the ground. "I was just about to punch him, and you just _had_ to go and _faint_… Loser!"

Melanie shot Carly an incredulous look as she knelt down beside Gabby. "She's passed out, and you're calling her a loser?"

"Yes. Yes, I am," Carly replied angrily. "Now I don't get to go kick his ass!" She pointed in Steve's general direction, never shifting her accusatory glare from Melanie.

"Like you could," Steve scoffed in an undertone, rolling his eyes.

Carly whirled around, her green eyes glinting dangerously. "Oh, wanna bet?"

Steve smirked at her. "Is that a challenge?"

Carly took a step forward and opened her mouth to respond, but she never got the chance.

"No! It's not!" Melanie interrupted, rising from her crouching position and brushing the grass off her jeans.

Carly's head whipped around so she could fix her friend with another death glare. "Yeah, Mel. It kinda was. Just stay out of it."

"No, she's right," Ellie jumped in. "We don't want to have to worry about taking care of Gabby _and_ Steve."

"Hey!" Steve protested, but his objections were lost in everyone's (and that includes Pony and Soda) snickers.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Carly finally sighed resignedly. "So, what's the plan?"

Melanie scrunched her eyebrows together, thinking hard. "Um… We're gonna have to carry her, obviously…"

"Yeah, no shit," Carly interrupted impatiently. "But _where_?"

Melanie threw her hands up in defeat. "Well, _I_ don't know! You guys never told me!"

Soda cleared his throat. "Why don't you take her back to her house?"

Carly gave him an extremely chafing look. "Gee, why didn't _we_ think of that?" she asked in a tone that was just dripping with sarcasm. "That's kind of the whole problem!"

The greasers all looked quite bewildered.

"Wait… Are you sayin' you don't know where her house is?" Pony asked slowly, his grey-green eyes sparkling with confusion.

Carly threw her hands up in defeat. "Yes! That's _exactly_ what I'm saying! Didn't you figure that out yet?"

Pony eyed her skeptically. "But ain't you her friends? How do you not know where she lives?"

"We do!" Ellie chimed in unexpectedly.

Everyone, Melanie and Carly included, turned to stare at her in confusion upon hearing this. After a few moments of this awkward silence, Soda decided to break the ice.

"So… Where's her house?"

"Our house," Ellie corrected automatically. "Well, apartment, actually… But that's not the point. It's—"

"Wait!" Steve interrupted, looking at all the girls suspiciously. "Y'all live together?"

"Yeah," Melanie confirmed immediately.

"Got a problem with that?" Carly demanded slightly defensively.

"No," Steve responded quickly. "But… shouldn't you know how to get to your own house? You just said you don't know where she lives, but now you're tellin' us you live there, too...?"

The three conscious girls (or the ones who appeared conscious) exchanged awkward glances. How were they supposed to explain that? Only Ellie and Gabby (much help she'd be, currently) really knew where the apartment was…

"Um… We…" Melanie gestured slightly frantically between herself and Carly, "just moved in…?" She phrased it as a question, so it wasn't exactly a very convincing argument…

Steve's eyebrows shot up in disbelief, but the threatening glare he was receiving from Carly was enough to convince him to withhold his aporetic comment.

"So…" Ellie stated after an awkward pause. "The apartment. It's on Elm Street, towards the other side of town…"

"Wait… So you're Socs." Soda said it like a declaration, leaving no room for doubt, his tone containing a slight twinge of disappointment. Or was that just Ellie's imagination? She really hoped he was disappointed… That meant he liked them, and didn't want them associated with the enemy. Right?

However, all three girls were quick to disagree (and Gabby would have been, too; she twitched like she was about to get up, but Ellie gave her a quick, sort-of-inconspicuous kick to the ribs as a reminder).

"Middle-classers!" they all yelled in unison, a more than minimal amount of defensiveness creeping into their voices.

Pony blinked at them. "Uh… Okay. Middle-classers. But your apartment's still halfway across town, right?"

Melanie nodded reluctantly. "Yeah… I think so," she confirmed hesitantly. She really still had absolutely no idea where it was, and the fact that she sounded so unsure about it really wasn't helping the whole 'we-live-there-like-normal-people' thing.

"Think you can carry her that far?" Pony asked sweetly. At least, Melanie thought he was being sweet; but she wasn't really one to judge, since she was still busy getting _totally_ lost in his eyes.

But his voice snapped her out of her slight trance. "'Cause our house is just a few blocks down the road…"

"Oh, um…" she stammered, frantically trying to collect her thoughts enough to form a substantial sentence. "Would you really…?"

"Sure," he confirmed, flashing her a small half-smile.

Melanie nearly choked; he was so cute when he smiled she sort of forgot to breath… Still, she maintained enough sense to nod in thanks and step back from Gabby so that someone else could lift her from the grass.

When she stopped between Ellie and Carly, she glanced at them to find them both snickering at her.

"What?" she whispered under her breath.

"Your ears are _so_ red right now…" Ellie murmured back, resisting the urge to point and burst into comical laughter. She didn't think it was possible for skin to turn that bright of a shade, let alone someone's ears…

Carly was exhibiting a much less successful attempt than her friend, nearly toppling over from holding back her giggles.

Melanie groaned softly, suddenly aware of the intense heat that was wafting from her ears. She pushed her hair forward, attempting to hide the vibrant red behind her darker auburn curls… It sort of worked. The tips of her ears still poked out, clashing dramatically with her hair.

"Alright," she said quickly, hoping to distract attention away from herself (Soda and Pony were now giving all three girls very strange looks; Steve was bending over to scoop Gabby off the ground). "Lead the way."

* * *

By the time the small crowd exited the park, Gabby was practically on the verge of a mental breakdown.

She spent the entire conversation everyone (minus her, of course) had in the park wallowing on the ground, afraid that at any moment someone would forget, in all their arguing, that she was there and step on her or something. And to make matters worse, she fried almost every nerve in her body making sure that her eyelids didn't flutter, or that her eyebrows didn't twitch, or that she didn't suddenly become the victim of some insane muscle spasm.

Then, whoever was transporting her to the Curtis' (she had no way of knowing it was Steve, lucky for him; she would be out for revenge) very unceremoniously slung her over their shoulder like some kind of unloved, unimportant… No, she couldn't even think of a word that described the rudeness with which she was being treated. Seriously, thank God she wasn't wearing a skirt!

However, the absolute worst aspect of the trip was the fact that she couldn't participate in the conversation. That's right, they were actually holding up a conversation during the walk! And… they were laughing. Laughing! So, essentially, everyone but her got to break through the awkwardness that inevitably follows a meeting as strange as this one, while she just sat there in "unconscious" silence.

"Thanks again for helping us out," Melanie said, grinning at the group. She'd easily found her confidence again, now that her ears had returned to their normal, well-tanned skin tone.

"No problem," Soda informed her cheerily, flashing everyone a charming smile of his own. This time, it was Ellie's turn to have difficulty breathing. His smile was just so… perfect. _He_ was perfect! And handsome… Wait. Was he saying something else?

"So, I guess y'all know me," he observed casually, not a hint of gloating present in his voice. "This here's my buddy, Steve." He motioned towards his friend, who waved lazily as he ducked to avoid getting hit by Gabby's arm (it just _"fell"_ towards his face…). "And my little brother, Ponyboy." Pony smiled a little shyly, mostly because he was dreading the usual unbelieving comments he received when people heard his name for the first time.

The others waited for Melanie to say something (they all knew how much thought she'd put into what she'd say when he was introduced to him), but she only returned his smile warmly. "Original names run in the family, huh?"

Pony shrugged, but his expression revealed the relief he felt at not having to defend his name. "Yeah, my dad was an original person."

Melanie's green eyes were sparkling, and contained a slight dreamy quality to them as she sighed, "Must be; I've never heard any names like yours before. I really like 'em." This time she was referring to both Pony and Soda.

"Yeah, me, too," Ellie agreed happily. "They're better than ours, for sure."

"Well, what _are_ your names?" Soda inquired curiously.

"In all that confusion, y'all never actually told us," Steve added, thinking back to the few times the girls had called each other by their names.

"Well," Carly spoke up (she'd been oddly quiet, for some reason), "I'm Carly." Then she swung her arm to the left to point at Melanie. "That's Melanie—"

"But you can call me Mel," she interrupted, still smiling. "My parents only call me Melanie when I'm in trouble."

There was a general nodding of heads before Carly continued: "Then the twins, Gabriella," she paused to put a hand in front of Melanie's mouth, since she'd opened it to cut in again, "who we all call Gabby, and Ellie. Ellie's the one who _isn't_ currently passed out."

Ellie gave a small wave. When she noticed all the greasers' gazes darting from her face to her sister's "sleeping" one, she sighed resignedly and added, "I'm taller."

They all nodded and smiled sheepishly; they got the impression that she'd grown tired of always needing to point this out.

"Well, I like your names," Pony commented. "They ain't all that common."

"I guess not…" Melanie agreed. She hadn't realized that their names might not have been popular back in the '60s. "But yours definitely win the prize for most original."

Everyone chuckled and collectively murmured their agreements, until a realization suddenly hit Soda.

"Hey… Y'all don't sound like you're from here," he began, his tone inquisitive. "You grow up somewhere else?"

The girls all exchanged quick glances. Should they tell the truth? They obviously couldn't share the entire reality, but it _was_ immensely obvious that they weren't from Oklahoma.

"Yeah," Carly finally confirmed. "New England."

Steve laughed. "Really? Ain't they got accents up there, too? Don't sound like you got one," he observed.

Carly rolled her eyes and the other girls groaned. She hardly ever shut up when someone got her started on their accents… "Here we go with the stereotypes! Just 'cause we're from New England doesn't mean we're gonna have heavy New York or Boston accents, savvy?" (She clearly took pride in her slight obsession with The Outsiders and had started using their '60s lingo after she finished it.)

"Then where _are_ you from?" Steve asked, cocking one eyebrow.

"Vermont. 'Kay? Happy?" Carly asked through gritted teeth. Melanie and Ellie both relaxed a bit; she hadn't yet exploded into the angry rant she usually did when someone asked about this stuff.

"Vermont?" Steve echoed incredulously. "Ain't that the state with—?"

"Just don't finish that sentence," Ellie warned angrily. She could tell from his tone of voice that Steve wasn't about to say anything nice about their home state, and none of them handled that kind of insult very well… especially Carly. And she already had a grudge against him; they didn't need to rub salt in the wound.

Steve shrugged and everyone just dropped the subject, allowing conversation to continue on as normal. They reached the Curtis' home without incident, though Carly kept shooting Steve death glares behind his back. In fact, by the time they all entered the house, they'd actually created a rather strong friendship, just by talking about their lives.

The first thing Carly did when she walked through the doorway and entered the living room was plop down on the couch like she'd done so every day of her entire life.

The other two girls sat down a little more cautiously, while the Curtis brothers and Steve took seats on the floor. Gabby was dropped (yes, quite literally _dropped_, I'm afraid; Steve isn't known for his gentleness) quite carelessly on the couch, and the armchair was left vacant.

"So…" Carly began, folding her arms behind her head and propping her feet up on the coffee table, "got any pudding?"

Everyone in the room turned to stare at her disbelievingly. They weren't sure if they were supposed to offer a serious reply, or laugh, or… what.

"Uh…" Pony finally broke the pervading silence, "no. We've only got chocolate cake, if that's okay."

Carly turned to glare at the very confused teenager. "No. No, it's not okay!" she exclaimed. "I don't _eat_ chocolate cake. The unhealthiest thing I ever eat is _pudding!_"

It was true. Since she participated in so many sports, she always worked hard to keep herself in shape; that meant eating healthy. The only exception to her strict diet was… pudding. So, it's hard to blame her for being so irritable when she discovered that her single guilty pleasure was nonexistent in her new setting…

The boys all looked taken aback.

"Uh…" Pony stammered, attempting to locate the words that would offer her a satisfactory apology.

"Don't worry," Melanie whispered to him. "She'll get over it eventually; it's just a really important thing to her, sticking to her diet…"

Ellie nodded vigorously in agreement. "Yeah, just try not to…" She paused for a moment, pondering their options. "Actually, don't do anything. Let us handle it."

The two girls turned towards their friend, who was currently occupying her time by glaring murderously at… nothing, really. She was just glaring fiercely into the distance, unfocused and lost in her own thoughts.

"Carly…" Melanie began in a cautious tone.

Carly's head whipped to the side so that she could focus her intense green gaze on her friend. "What?"

"Um…" Melanie started, totally at a loss for what to say now that Carly was fixing her with that unnerving glare. "Maybe you should just—"

Thankfully, she was saved from having to stutter through a half-hearted explanation as to why the significant lack of pudding in that household wasn't going to be a problem by none other than…

Darry.

Yes, at that very moment, the door swung open and Superman himself strode in. His shocked gaze swept quickly around the room. He took one look at the four random girls, one of whom was passed out and sprawled across the couch, and sighed in defeat.

"Okay… What's going on?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what's going on." Carly stood up, crossed her arms, and gave Darry that dreaded death glare she was so practiced at creating. "You're fucking out of pudding!"

* * *

_**Notes: Alright, fourth chapter…**_

_**Just so people aren't confused: Gabby only pretended to pass out last chapter. That's where the whole drama queen thing comes in… ;)**_

_**Before you review… Just know: the same friend as before dared me to make the title of this chapter "You're Out of Pudding!" So, what was I to do? I had to accept the challenge, obviously! Again. Only, I tweaked it a little. Why? Because I wanted to. :) The current title is just a place holder; I'll think of something better later. Maybe.**_

_**Stay gold,  
****~Rae**_


	5. Important First Impressions

**[Chapter Five: Important First Impressions]**

"Uh… What?" Darry questioned, his normally calm countenance contorted with bewilderment. There were four strange girls in his living room; one of them was knocked out cold, and another was interrogating him about… pudding?

"You heard me," Carly stated indignantly. Her truculent green eyes were spewing so much hatred and frustration that even _Darry_ was feeling just a tad intimidated. After all, she had displayed slightly violent tendencies… "You don't have any pudding!"

Darry's gaze momentarily shifted towards his brothers, searching for assistance, but their expressions personified the confusion everyone was currently harboring. "Yeah… so?"

Melanie groaned and Ellie shook her head in defeat. Now she had an excuse to rant… (It was only fair she should be cranky, though; besides the fact that she was dieting, her family consisted of vegetarians… It's no wonder she was so defensive about her pudding.)

Carly, meanwhile, took a threatening step in Darry's direction. "So?" she echoed furiously, her tone once again reaching a dangerously soft volume. "So? _So,_ I can't eat anything unhealthy here! Do you _know_ what an awful fate that is?" she demanded, clenching her fists in rage. "You've practically just doomed me to a life of all _vegetables!_ And tofu. And let me tell you something about tofu; it's—"

"Carly," Ellie interrupted sharply. "I'm sure there are other places to get pudding. Just calm down a bit…"

Carly gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, visibly and forcibly relaxing her imposing stance as she took a calming breath. "Fine," she finally muttered, "but I'm going to go get it _now_." She took another sidestep towards the door as if to prove her point.

"Okay!" Melanie agreed hastily, hoping to smooth over this whole tiff before they created even _weirder_ preconceptions of themselves… Assuming that was possible. "Um, can someone maybe go with her…?"

"Steve!" Ellie declared, smirking at Carly with satisfaction.

Carly's eyes widened. "No. I _refuse_. Got it? It's just _not _gonna happen." And with that said, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the house, the echo of her stomping footsteps reverberating throughout the entire room.

Melanie turned to glance sheepishly around at the whole company, struggling to find the right words to both apologize and convince them to offer an escort to their bad-tempered friend. "Um…"

"I'll go," Steve interrupted, solving the problem before it could even be discussed.

Everyone present turned to stare at him incredulously. They were all honestly baffled by his willingness to walk into near certain death.

"Um… why?" Ellie finally asked. "You hate her. She hates you. Just… why?"

He smirked at her. "I'll get to annoy the shit outta her." Then, he trotted out of the room in pursuit of the dark-haired girl.

After the completion of both dramatic exits, silence permeated the room, as no one had any idea what to say after… _that_.

"Well," Darry finally began, his tone tinged with remote disapproval, "I'll repeat myself: what's going on?"

"We were all at the park, and then… we…" Melanie's voice trailed off as her lips tugged downward into a troubled frown. Everyone in the room exchanged quick, nearly inconspicuous glances; should they tell Darry that Carly had hit his baby brother in the chest with a rock?

"…We kinda bumped into each other," Pony finished after a short, tense pause.

The girls smiled gratefully at him, relieved that they hadn't needed to fabricate an excuse in Carly's defense.

"Yeah, then Gabby over there," Ellie paused to pointed at her sister, who _still_ hadn't surrendered to a nervous breakdown (you have to admit, she's got acting talent), "passed out."

Darry's expression darkened with concern. "Is she alright? Why'd she pass out?"

Melanie shrugged, glancing over at her friend cautiously. "Not sure. Dehydration, maybe? Like, a heat stroke?"

Ellie nodded quickly. "Yeah, that must be it…"

Darry nodded, satisfied with Melanie's unknowingly truth-lacking answer. "Alright. Soda, get some water for her."

Soda nodded and jumped up, racing to the kitchen to fill a glass with tap water.

"You're sure there's nothin' else that could've caused it?" Darry pressed further.

"Yeah, pretty sure…" Melanie's voice trailed off; she appeared deep in thought.

Darry gave her a curt nod as Soda ran back into the living room, the cup of water he was clutching sloshing out all over the carpet in his haste. By the time he actually reached the couch, it was only about half full.

Darry stood up abruptly. "Okay, we're gonna have to turn her over onto her back…"

He was right; when Steve had dropped her onto the couch, he'd left her sprawled on her stomach, one arm hanging off the side and the other draped over the back. Her legs were scrunched together awkwardly so that they, too, wouldn't hang over the side… You really had to give Gabby credit; nearly every limb on her body must have fallen asleep by that time, and still she didn't utter a peep.

Ellie's eyes clouded with confusion. "Are you gonna give her that water… while she's still asleep?"

Darry shrugged. "If she doesn't wake up in the next few seconds."

Soda, seeing the girls' skeptical looks, added, "Don't worry, she won't choke or nothin'…"

"Wait," Melanie suddenly commanded, the thoughtful haze dissipating from her green eyes. "There's something we have to tell you…"

Darry turned to fix her with a dubious, icy blue-green gaze. "Can't it wait 'til after she's got something to drink…?"

Melanie shook her head. "I don't think so… You might be kinda surprised, so it's best if you're not holding a cup of water over someone's head… Don't want to drop it, or anything."

Now, everyone was extremely confused… What kind of news could she give them that would cause Soda to drop the cup on Gabby's head?

Suddenly, it dawned on Ellie. "Mel…" she warned cautiously, choosing every word carefully, "maybe we want to wait to tell them… Y'know, after we've settled in and all?"

Melanie shook her head determinedly. "No, we'll have to tell them eventually. We should just get it out of the way now, so it's not super awkward later."

The Curtis' all exchanged looks. They were being discussed as though they weren't currently present in the room… standing approximately five feet away from the girls…

Pony cleared his throat. "Uh… tell us what?"

"'Cause it seems kinda awkward already," Soda tacked on, cocking one eyebrow curiously.

"Let's see… start at the beginning…" Melanie muttered, more to herself than the others. She took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts so that she could phrase them in the least… daunting way possible. She didn't want to freak them out. "Okay… Well, you see, my dad's an inventor…" She paused, her brow furrowed in concentration. Was that starting _too_ far at the beginning? Was it even important? …Could she be over-thinking this?

Eventually she just let out a frustrated groan. "You know what? Just read this!" Then she pulled out of her pocket…

A copy of _The Outsiders_. Actually, she threw it at the nearest greaser, hoping they'd have fast reflexes.

Ellie chuckled softly. "You actually brought yours with you?"

Melanie shrugged, a half-smile pulling at the corners of her lips as her cheeks tinted a slight pink. "I thought it might come in handy… Y'know, for something like this." She was only embarrassed because the characters were about to learn that she kept their book with her at all times…

Ellie smiled gleefully. "Me, too!" However, her smile melted into a frown just as quickly. "Only, I said I wanted it transported straight to the apartment… And, hey, how'd you think to bring it? You didn't know we were coming, right?"

Melanie's blush deepened. "Yeah... well, maybe I kinda carry it around... a lot..."

Ellie just smirked at her, realizing too well the extent of her friend's fangirl tendencies. After all, they shared them in all aspects.

Pony, who'd caught the book, took one look at the back cover and fumbled with it so much he very nearly dropped it. He glanced up, his startled grey-green gaze flitting from one girl to the other. "Wh… What _is_ this?"

Melanie twirled a strand of her auburn hair around her finger nervously, the shade of her cheeks darkening to a far more prominent reddish hue. "Um… it's… well, it's kinda—"

"A book about your lives?" Ellie suggested, clearly much more at ease with the topic than her stuttering friend.

"Y-yeah…" Melanie stammered. "That."

Sodapop promptly proceeded to drop the glass of water he'd been holding (as Melanie had predicted), gawking at the book his younger brother was holding. "Wait… what?"

Pony, who was now skimming through the pages gingerly as if at any moment he expected that it might implode or spontaneously burst into flames, could barely string three consecutive thoughts together, he was so shocked. Still, he managed to exclaim, "Not just that! It's… it's my theme!"

Melanie's smile broke into a full-on grin as a hint of the obnoxious red tint to her skin faded. "Oh, you really wrote it? I was hoping that was true…"

Darry was just frozen, his eyes glittering with skepticism. "Are you really tellin' us that that's Pony's school paper, published under someone else's name?"

Ellie and Melanie nodded vigorously. "Yeah!" they chorused.

Pony suddenly looked up from the book he'd been scanning so intently, wearing an extremely shocked expression. "Wait… Why's it say Dally died…?"

"It does?" Soda exclaimed, reaching forward to grab the book out of his brother's hand. "Let me see!"

But Pony just held it behind him, out of Soda's reach, still staring at the two girls expectantly.

The exchanged a nervous glance. Now came the hard to prove part…

"Okay, you've seen that we've got that book, and it's obviously legit…" Melanie began, her green eyes twinkling with concentration once again. "Well… oh, this is so awkward…"

"What is?" Darry prompted.

"Well…"

"You can't finish any of your explanations, can you, Mel?" Ellie sighed exasperatedly after her friend trailed off yet again. "Look." Her tone was much gentler as she addressed the Curtis'. "We came from… a different world, I guess." She paused to hold up a hand, silencing everyone as they started bombarding her with skeptical questions. "In our world, you're all just… characters from that book. But… her dad," she continued, jabbing her thumb in Melanie's direction, "gave her a birthday present that lets us get transported inside any book we want…" She shrugged awkwardly. "So, here we are."

A puzzled silence followed her words. Seriously, what are you supposed to say when some strangers waltz into your home and inform you that you're fictional characters?

Pony rubbed the back of his neck and glanced down at the book again. "So… Why's Dally dead?" He was avoiding the obvious "You're both crazy!" that was looming over the group.

Melanie frowned. "Well, that's how it really happened, I guess. We were allowed to bring characters back to life if we wanted, though…" she explained. "But…" she looked around at everyone, her bewilderment plain through her expression, "we said to bring back both Johnny _and_ Dally… Why didn't it work?"

Silence met her words, since no one could honestly offer a reasonable solution. Finally, though, Darry broke through the quiet, pointing to Gabby as he spoke.

"Oo-kay… I think maybe she ain't the only with heat stroke…"

"Oh, _no one_ ever had heat stroke!" an irritated voice spoke, muffled by pillows.

Everyone, save Ellie, jumped back from the couch a few feet at the startling sound of the voice.

Gabby rolled onto her back, repositioning herself into a sitting position as she stretched her neck and rubbed her shoulders. "God, when I find out who was carrying me here…"

"Wait!" Soda interrupted. "You… never really passed out?"

Gabby smirked at him as she stomped her foot repeatedly, trying to return feeling to it. "Fooled you, huh?"

Darry was giving all the girls a very creeped out look. "You're all nuts…" he finally decided.

"No," Gabby argued, rising to a wobbly standing position and wincing at the pain that shot up through her stiff legs. "I did _not_ just spend that _entire_ time cramped in the fetal position for you to decide you don't believe the truth!" she yelled, cocking her hip haughtily and placing a hand on it. "What's it gonna take for you to believe us?"

Darry was extremely taken aback by her sudden outburst, and therefore had absolutely no idea how to respond. "Uh…"

"Oh, I know!" Melanie piped up, reaching for something in her pocket. "I've got the date on my cell!" She pulled out a small touch screen phone and pressed a few buttons. After a moment of waiting, a holographic image shot up from it, displaying the date and time. "See?"

The greasers just gaped at the numbers that seemed to be floating in midair, completely speechless.

"Really, Mel?" Ellie shook her head in amazement. "You pulled that out just to show them the _date_…?"

Melanie's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, right! Holographic projections and all... Sorry, forgot." Then she grinned delightedly. "But that actually proves my point better, huh?"

"Sure..." Ellie confirmed, shocked at her friend's absent-mindedness. How could she have forgotten that any kind of cell phone at all didn't exist in the 1960's…?

"Right…" Pony stammered after the phone had been turned off and placed back in Melanie's pocket. "So… you really are…"

"From the future," Gabby chipped in.

"More like a different world," Melanie reasoned, agreeing with Gabby's previous explanation.

"…This is just _too_ weird…" Darry commented.

Soda shrugged. "Yeah, but they've got proof. What else can we say?"

Pony nodded his agreement, handing the book back to Melanie. Darry grudgingly nodded his head. "I guess… Still, it's hard to believe…"

Ellie shrugged. "Yeah, I'd be pretty freaked out, if I were you…"

"Who'd be freaked out?"

Everyone's heads whipped around at the emergence of a new voice and the sound of the house's screen door slamming closed with a loud _bang_.

"Two-Bit, Dallas…" Darry greeted. "Perfect timing…"

"Really? What's goin' on?" Two-Bit smirked, surveying the occupants of the room for the first time. "And what's with all the broads…?"

All three girls sucked in their breaths as their features hardened into indifferent glares. _All_ of them _hated_ that word…

"I was bein' sarcastic," Darry pointed out, sighing resignedly.

"Wow, he really does try to pick up every girl he sees…" Melanie observed in an undertone. Obviously, though, everyone heard; it's clearly been established that none of them can ever successfully speak quietly.

"I see I've got myself a reputation," Two-Bit boasted, grinning as he leaned nonchalantly against the wall by the door. "But usually, doll, I only go for blondes…" He smirked and cocked an eyebrow, nodding towards the twins, who were now standing side by side. "Y'know, like those two. …Particularly the one on the right…"

The sisters both gave him incredulous looks and prepared to share their thoughts regarding his incredibly horrendous pick-up tactics, but they never got the chance. Dallas Winston chose that particular moment to speak up for the first time since he'd entered the Curtis household.

"Who gives a shit? There ain't a difference between 'em, anyway."

That did it. Being called broads was one thing, but being purposely referred to as someone so unimportant that they were considered the same person was crossing the line.

Ellie and Melanie were both introducing him to the most belligerent death glares ever spawned, practically shooting steam out of there ears; they were _that_ angry. Still, that was nothing compared to Gabby.

She clenched her jaw and balled her fists, literally shaking with rage. Her blue eyes were sparkling dangerously as she took two long strides towards the towheaded hood, closing nearly the entire distance between them.

Then, she did the _last_ thing anyone ever expected her to do:

She slapped him across the face.

* * *

_**Notes: I'll bet you weren't expecting that, huh? ;) Well, if you think Gabby's gonna go all Mary-Sue-tough-girl, think again! The drama queen lives on...**_

_**So, Dallas hadn't said anything in all that time because he was in a really bad mood… Hope that's good enough characterization!**_

_**That's all for now!**_

_**Stay gold,  
~Rae**_


	6. Misperceptions

**[Chapter Six: Misperceptions]**

When Carly stepped out onto the Curtis' front porch, a realization dawned on her: she had absolutely no idea where she was going.

She hadn't seen any stores on her trip from the park to the house, but she hadn't exactly been searching for them; she'd been too preoccupied participating in the conversation to pay any real attention. Thus, she couldn't be sure where _any_ stores were in the _entire_ town.

So, she stood there awkwardly, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. She was pondering her options, and slowly reaching the conclusion that none of them were very desirable:

She could wander aimlessly around downtown (assuming she could _find_ downtown) until she located a convenience store that sold sugar-free pudding… But no, the sun was already dipping dangerously close to the horizon; running around with no sense of direction would just be idiotic.

The only other option that crossed her mind was asking for directions… And she certainly wasn't about to do _that_. That would mean re-entering the Curtis abode, which, in turn, would result in tarnishing a perfectly good dramatic exit. And all just to ask for someone else's help? No, she couldn't even consider that thought…

When Steve finally decided to make his appearance, he opened the screen door to find her sitting on the front steps, her posture just a tad a sulky. She was deep in thought, contemplating whether or not going back inside in search of a compass was worth it (though _how_ that would help her, exactly, was a completely different train of logic), so she didn't hear him, even after he proceeded to slam the door. Loudly.

He cocked an eyebrow incredulously, her presence confusing him. She had a head start; shouldn't she have been halfway to the nearest corner store by then? "Didn't you want pudding…?"

Carly visibly jumped, her head whipping around as she fixed him with an angry, intense, green glare. She hated it when people snuck up on her unannounced. "Geez, don't do that!" she snapped impishly.

Steve, who was taken aback by her suddenly crabby demeanor, had trouble forming a response. "Uh… What?"

She rolled her eyes at his stupidity. "You just tried to scare me, idiot."

Her accusation bewildered him, since he'd done nothing of the sort; still, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing that. Instead, he just smirked devilishly. "And it worked."

Carly's eyes narrowed as she snorted disbelievingly. "You wish."

Steve chuckled. "Did you see how much you jumped? It worked," he stated firmly. His tone left no room for argument; or so he thought. Obviously, he still hadn't realized that Carly can argue about _anything_.

She stood up, her threatening stance and annoyed glare causing her to radiate an aura of serious intimidation; just what she was aiming for. She stared at him coldly, willing him to attempt contradicting her again. If there was one thing she absolutely hated, it was when people insulted her pride (or when they tried to lie to her). "Say that again," she hissed. "I dare you."

Steve rolled his eyes, his smirk unwavering. "It worked. I scared you."

Carly's eyes acquired a steely glint as she stomped forward angrily. She halted right in front of an obviously confused Steve, flashed him a wicked grin of her own, and kicked him, connecting the blunt point of her shoe with the middle of his shin. Then, she whirled around and marched down the steps and towards the road, leaving him cussing and hollering as he repeated lost his balance while he trying to shift all of his weight to his uninjured right leg.

She was only halfway to the sidewalk when Steve caught up with her, grabbing her by the shoulder and spinning her around harshly. "What the _hell?_"

Carly shrugged off his grip and crossed her arms. "Well, I _did_ warn you…"

Steve grunted in frustration and balled his fists while Carly smiled satisfactorily. He couldn't hit a girl… and they both knew it.

Carly pushed her fringe of dark bangs out of her eyes, quickly deciding that the conversation wasn't worth continuing. "'Kay. See ya." And with those parting words, she (again) began her blind trek through the city in search of sugar-free pudding…

"And _where_ are you goin'?" Steve inquired, quick to pursue her. He had to jog to match her brisk pace thanks to his leg injury, but he still followed her nonetheless. He'd told the Curtis' he would guide her through town so that he could annoy her… Now, it was immensely clear that he'd acted rashly; it was obvious Hell would freeze over before he won any of their arguments.

"Oh, did you _not_ here my speech back there?" Carly questioned sarcastically, keeping her eyes glued to the sidewalk in front of her and not even acknowledging his presence in the slightest. "I'm going to find some pudding!"

Steve stared at her dubiously. "Yeah, but you ain't got any idea where you're goin'…" he pointed out smugly.

Carly rolled her eyes, hiding her doubts behind a façade of confidence. "And who says I don't?"

"Well, for starters, the store's _that_ way…"

Carly huffed indignantly, shoving Steve's arm away as it pointed back the way they'd come. "Who says I wanted to go to the closest one?"

Steve was about to respond, but lost his footing when he applied too much weight to his injured leg and nearly stumbled over, earning a triumphant bout of laughter from Carly. He tried to disguise his grimace, but failed miserably. "Alright, if you know how to get there, lead the way!" he snapped mockingly, his patience wearing thin.

Carly stopped laughing abruptly, her features hardening into a concentrated glare. She still kept her gaze locked ahead, her green eyes smoldering as she realized the extent of her predicament. Obviously, she had no idea where she was going. She decided the best option was to just proceed in a straight line… At least then she couldn't _really_ get lost.

So, they trekked on in silence. Despite his earlier challenge, Steve was really leading the pair, casually turning corners without any gestures or indications that Carly should follow; he understood that if she got the idea that he was in charge, she'd turn around and head in the other direction just to be difficult.

It was clear through her brooding expression that she'd become aware of his "helpful guidance," but he wasn't being cocky about his superior knowledge, and she wouldn't be able to find the store at all if it weren't for him. So, really, all she could do was keep quiet and glare at nothing in particular (no matter how much she wanted to kick him again). And that's just what she did.

Carly was blatantly ignoring Steve, hoping that maybe he'd just disappear or something if she didn't acknowledge his presence. That was honestly fine by Steve; he knew that the second they started conversing, it'd morph into a fight that he'd most definitely lose. He was really content to just continue their trip in mutual silence. But of course that wasn't going to happen.

She'd realized several blocks back that Steve enjoyed their communication-lacking silences. It was than that she'd had a sudden epiphany: if Steve was actually _happier_ when she wasn't trying to chat with him (more like repeatedly insult him, but whatever)… what was the natural course of action?

Talk to him, of course.

It took her a while to decide exactly what to say to him, but she finally settled on something.

"So…" she began, smirking maliciously as she focused her gaze on Steve for the first time since they'd left the Curtis'.

Steve glanced at her, surprise flashing through his eyes for a moment before he recovered an indifferent mask, cocking one eyebrow in question. "Yeah?"

"…Can I call you Stevie?"

Steve just shot her a _'what-the-hell'_ look, not bothering to respond. But after a few moments of an expectant silence that was filled with her relatively patient smirk he realized that she was actually expecting an answer. "Uh. No."

Carly's lips tugged downward ever so slightly, creating an almost untraceable frown. "Well, why not?"

Steve glanced at her incredulously. "My name's Steve; 'Stevie,'" he spat the word as thought it were venomous, "makes me sound like a freakin' pansy!"

"So… are you saying I can't call you Stevie?" Carly inquired, a slight edge to her voice.

"Yeah," Steve confirmed firmly, shifting his attention back to the sidewalk in front of him. Where'd she even get a stupid idea like that, anyway?

Carly, however, wasn't through. She gave him another devilish grin before saying, "Alright, whatever you say… Stevie."

Steve's head whipped around as he fixed her with an intense glare, growling, "Steve!"

"-ie!" Carly tacked on joyously.

Steve groaned heavily in frustration; everything he said to this girl just went in one ear and out the other! "Look, you can go around sayin' 'Stevie' all you want—"

"Oh, I will!" Carly interrupted, snickering triumphantly. "Everyone's gonna be calling you Stevie eventually…"

Steve took one quick glance at her and realized she wasn't bluffing. "…Shit…"

And so began their endless, pointless, back-and-forth bickering. By the time they actually reached their intended destination, a little corner store, they were engaged in such a heated argument that Carly couldn't even enjoy herself when she _finally_ acquired her long-awaited prize: pudding. In fact, she was so distracted, she accidently bought _regular_ pudding, and they had to go back and purchase sugar-free pudding after they'd just started to leave the store. This mistake was, in fact, the topic of their current dispute as they exited the store (for the second time).

"I had to buy two!" Carly muttered under her breath. "Thanks for _wasting_ my money!" she then hissed over her shoulder as she stormed up the sidewalk, retracing the steps of their previous journey.

Steve clenched his jaw; he was absolutely fed up with her pointless accusations by now. "You did that all by yourself, sweetheart."

Carly shot him a murderous glare over her shoulder. "_Don't_ call me sweetheart."

"Oh, sure," Steve scoffed angrily, "you can call me _Stevie_, but I ain't allowed to call you anythin' annoyin'?"

"No, you aren't," Carly agreed, her grip tightening around the plastic bag she clutched in her right hand (it contained the pudding, of course).

Steve grumbled an incoherent (and hardly printable) string of words as they both halted at a street corner, fuming with rage. A seemingly endless stream of cars flew by in blurs of varying colors, many tarnished with rust. The continuous drone of their speedy passing (all were speeding, of course) was enough to mostly drown out Steve's muttered cursing… but it still annoyed Carly.

"Oh, _shut up!_" she finally yelled, stomping her foot in frustration.

Steve just glared at her. "Oh, sorry," he said mockingly, his tone full of insincerity. "Am I buggin' you?"

"YES."

"Good."

Carly let out something that was a cross between a frustrated sigh and a furious groan. "You know what? I'm just going back without you."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Sure, 'cause we ain't goin' to the same place or anythin'…"

Carly's cold green eyes stared daggers into him for a long, hate-filled moment. Then she finally graced him with her wonderful response: "Fuck. You."

Then she spun on her heel and began stomping across the street, successfully performing what would be counted as about her fifth dramatic exit since she'd entered The Outsiders realm.

She'd already closed half the distance between the two sidewalks, glowering at her feet the entire time. She was completely lost in her own angry, moody thoughts; it was a wonder she'd even marched off in the right direction. Still, she should've been more perceptive; after all, Steve was the first to notice that something was off.

By some stroke of luck, the streets had been relatively clear when she quite stupidly jumped out into the street. Now, though, when she was an unsafe distance from either sidewalk, a car decided to make its appearance.

It came tearing around the corner in a speeding blur of dark red paint, the deafening screech of the tires echoing through the narrow street. Carly stopped abruptly, her head whipping around in confusion as the headlights of the car, which rounded the corner dangerously and had yet to straighten out into a defined lane, bathed her in a bright light. She didn't register the danger she was in fast enough, though; she was literally like a deer caught in headlights (though her expression was less startled).

Steve, however, was quick to react. He lunged forward in one long stride, grabbed her wrist in a vice grip, and yanked her back to their original sidewalk corner. He yelled a few choice words at the car as it sped past (also adding a rather rude hand gesture), then turned his attention to Carly. "You okay?"

"No!" Carly immediately responded as she forcibly ripped her arm from his grasp. She wasn't even using a biting tone; in fact, she sounded almost… distraught.

Steve's eyes clouded a bit with worry. "What? Did you get hurt?"

"No!" she wailed again.

Steve stared at her incredulously, his concern fading fast. He obviously didn't notice that she was still really freaked out (a car _did_ almost flatten her). "Then _what_ is it?"

Carly crossed her arms and stared out over the road; she was trying to disguise the fact that her hands were shaking. Her green eyes were dangerously stormy and she appeared on the verge of tears; almost getting run over tends to have an unstable effect on people. Still, she didn't want to confess that to _him_. "…My pudding. It _died_."

Steve just cocked one eyebrow incredulously. Her pudding was splattered across the crosswalk, the plastic cups that once contained the sugar-free dessert now slowly blowing away, a mangled mess. But she was lying. He knew that obviously wasn't really what had shaken her up so badly, however much it upset her. Maybe she wasn't as tough as she wanted everyone to think. Well, he certainly didn't want to kick her when she was down… Being mean would just rub salt in the wound.

After a few seconds of a pondering silence, he finally decided to say something before she broke down sobbing. "Well, let's go get some more, then."

Carly turned to face him, her green eyes sparkling with bewilderment and hope. "…Really?"

Steve chuckled and nodded sincerely. "Yeah. Really."

Carly's face slowly lit up until she was genuinely beaming at him. "Thanks!" she squealed (yes, squealed) happily. She then proceeded to run forward and practically tackled a very surprised Steve with a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder.

Steve was obviously extremely taken aback, but wrote off her sudden spur of sentimentality as a result of her being emotionally compromised (thanks to that car). He somewhat hesitantly circled his arms around her back; he still wasn't sure if she was going to suddenly kick him again.

"Thanks," she whispered again, this time hardly audible as she detached herself from him.

Steve just smiled. "Let's get goin', then."

Carly nodded and returned his grin as the turned and started back towards the store.

It may have taken a life-threatening experience (it should be obvious by now that Carly's only swayed by seriously dramatic events), but it seemed they'd finally reached a neutral point where they could maintain a conversation and not only resist the urge to strangle each other, but genuinely enjoy each others' company. And as they walked on, laughing good naturedly and making generally amiable small talk, they were both thinking the same thing: _"Maybe I jumped to conclusions."_

"…_Maybe I was _wrong_."_

* * *

Dallas Winston was mad as hell.

It wasn't like he'd been hurt when Gabby slapped him; there wasn't even a red mark on his cheek. No, he was completely unharmed, physically. But…

She'd injured his pride.

His reputation as the toughest hood in Tulsa was hanging by a thread because some stupid broad he didn't even know the name of had decided she wanted to be stupid and had hit him. So, now, she deserved what was coming to her. Karma, right? Wrong.

She was a _girl_. No girl had ever hit Dally before… What was he supposed to do? He couldn't hit her back (even if she _did_ deserve it), but he couldn't just stand there and do nothing! It was a frustrating, vicious circle that he couldn't see a way out of.

So, when she started to draw her hand back from his cheek, he reacted on impulse: he shot his hand out and grabbed her by the arm.

Two-Bit immediately doubled over, howling with laughter at the sight of the blonde hood being assaulted by the little girl in front of him, but a quick, meaningful glare from Dally himself sobered his expression. Everyone else in the room was looking on in an awed, almost reverent silence. Except for Ellie.

"Epic!" she yelled, and held up her hand expectantly, waiting for her twin to return the offered high-five. However, Gabby simply couldn't.

You see, when Dally grabbed her arm, he wasn't playing around; he was squeezing it so hard she was certain that the beginnings of a bruise were already evident (whether he did so on purpose or his anger just overcame him, she'd never know). And in truth, she was scared out of her mind. She herself had been blinded by rage when she slapped him; now, she was just shying away from him, cowering and hoping that he wouldn't return the favor. He didn't hit girls in the book… Right?

She tried to swallow nervously as he slowly leaned in towards her, but she had a lump in her throat. He glared at her, his icy blue eyes piercing into her as he ignored her sister's exclamation.

"Don't _ever_… do that _again_," he hissed menacingly, his nose only inches from her own. She opened her mouth, but no sound would come out, so she just nodded shakily. They remained like that for what seemed like two eternities to Gabby, the entire room drop dead silent as the greaser glared at her, before Ellie finally cut in.

"'Kay, let go of her arm now," Ellie commanded bluntly, shooting him a venomous glare. It was a lot easier to be menacing towards him when you weren't the target of his hatred. "You're gonna leave a bruise."

Dally just smirked at her and released his grip on Gabby's arm. She rubbed it gingerly, immediately taking a step back so she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her sister. They were both staring at him incredulously.

Dally sighed inwardly. He'd come to the Curtis' to blow off some steam, but getting into frustrating, physical arguments with girls who he couldn't hit back wasn't lessening his anger. After a few moments of an awkward silence, he turned around and threw the door open, calling over his shoulder, "I'm gonna go hunt some action." With that said, he let the door slam (obviously).

Gabby immediately let out a frustrated sigh, before anyone could say or do anything else, and kicked the door open, stomping onto the porch and plopping down on the steps.

Ellie sighed resignedly. "I should probably go see what's up…" she declared. There were general nods of agreement as she pushed past Two-Bit and strode to the edge of the porch. She sat down next to her sister, but waited a long while in silence; she knew Gabby would start talking when she'd gathered all her thoughts.

"…I'm officially an idiot," she finally came out with, shaking her head and staring absent-mindedly out at the rapidly darkening sky.

Ellie's eyebrows shot up disbelievingly. "Um, no you aren't."

"Yeah. I am."

Ellie just shook her head, deciding it was useless to argue. "Why? Because you hit him? Look, if you didn't, I would have—"

"That's not it," Gabby interrupted, turning her dark blue gaze to connect it with her sister's. "It's just… Y'know how I always somehow end up loving the bad boy characters in books and stuff?"

Ellie snickered. "Yeah. _Somehow_."

Gabby laughed lightly and nudged Ellie's shoulder playfully. "Oh, shut up." Then her grin faded and the serious note returned to her tone. She looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Well, to sum up my thoughts: they suck."

Ellie couldn't help it. She burst out laughing, clutching her side as Gabby crossed her arms impatiently.

"I was being serious, thanks!" she snapped tersely.

Ellie finally calmed down enough to apologize between giggling fits. "I know… It's just… the way you said it…."

Gabby rolled her eyes and banged her head on the porch railing. "Glad to know how amusing I am when I'm trying to be _serious_."

Ellie's last few chuckles died away and she straightened up, her expression thoughtful. "Yeah, I can see why you're so upset…"

Gabby lifted her head up from the wooden porch so that she could nod. "Exactly. I can just say one thing: I'm _never_ going to like anymore bad boy characters. _Ever_," she declared, her tone disgusted. "They're just so… so…"

"Bad?" Ellie suggested, smirking.

"Yes!" Gabby agreed, nodding thoughtfully. "Ugh. I officially hate Dallas Winston."

Ellie cocked one eyebrow. "Well, that's a complete change of heart from earlier today…"

"Yeah, that's kinda the point," Gabby muttered. She sighed deeply again, lost in her very confused thoughts.

She was reaching the same conclusion Steve and Carly already had: the original perceptions they'd all formed regarding one another…

…were wrong.

* * *

_**Notes: I had some trouble with this chapter… Writer's block, and some characterization details just stumped me. So, it might not be up to par. Someday I'll go back and rewrite it... hopefully.**_

_**I also want to say thanks to everyone who read my story, whether you reviewed or not… It means a lot.**_

_**And one other thing: Carly's super emotional towards the end of the chapter because she just almost ****died****. If that's not an excuse, I don't know what is.**_

_**Stay gold,  
****~Rae**_


	7. Movie Plans

**[Chapter Seven: Movie Plans]**

Eventually, the twins' conversation just sort of dwindled into a ponderous silence. Both were just staring into the distance at the hazy sunset… At first, Gabby's thoughts revolved around Dallas and the book and all that, but it morphed into a mental recap of their trip thus far; so presently, she was wondering how their excuse for her little charade had passed with no ridicule. Like, seriously? Heat stroke? It was the middle of autumn! Jacket weather! Cold breezes! _Frost!_ How could she have gotten _heat stroke_? Honestly, sometimes she wondered about Mel…

But her train of thought was cut short, because just then, the faint sound of distant laughter echoed from down the street. The sisters' gazes snapped to attention, and their eyes locked in a quick exchange. Then they turned to locate the source of the laughter… And their mouths promptly fell agape at what they discovered.

Carly and Steve were rounding the corner, and they happy laughter was coming from… them? (Yes, it was quite shocking.) Carly was nudging Steve… in a good-natured manner? And he was… _holding her pudding for her_? Something was _clearly_ wrong. These things don't just _happen_. Right?

Ellie jumped to her feet and was already halfway through the front yard by the time Gabby registered what she was observing. (It was a big surprise, remember.) Soon, though, she was up and following her sister, tearing down the sidewalk.

"…so all I had was this pop bottle, and—" Steve stopped abruptly, noticing the twins racing towards them. The two pairs ended up meeting right at the front gate.

"Something wrong…?" Carly questioned casually, continuing her stroll to the screen door.

Gabby stared at her friend incredulously as she turned and retraced her steps towards the house. "Um, yes," she declared.

"Since when did you two—" Ellie paused to jerk her thumb between Steve and Carly "—like each other?"

The two in question exchanged a knowing smirk before grinning slyly at the sisters.

"Let's just say…" Carly began smugly, "that he's one of the very select few people (four, to be exact) that switched off of my hate list…"

Gabby's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. There were only three things in history that got Carly to stop hating someone (several long, slightly odd stories were involved)… and the only plausible explanation for this situation was that Steve had just saved Carly's life. But that didn't make any sense! They'd just gone to the corner store to get pudding! How could that possibly be life-threatening?

A quick glance at Ellie told her that her twin had arrived at the same conclusion: her eyebrows were scrunched together and her nose was wrinkled slightly in doubt. Still, all she said was, "It's a miracle."

"Yeah, I'm surprised, too…" Steve smirked. "Not that I'm complaining…"

Carly rolled her eyes and brushed her bangs to one side. "Watch yourself, Randle... I can always change my mind."

Steve just shrugged and grinned cockily as he strode into the Curtis household; they'd all reached the porch by then.

The corners of Carly's mouth twitched upwards slightly into a small smile as she followed him inside, as if she sincerely enjoyed their playful banter.

Ellie and Gabby stopped in front of the door, exchanged a final bewildered look, and stepped into the house after their friends.

* * *

Since the first second the twins had deserted her, Melanie's ears had been slowly burning a deeper shade of red with every passing minute. It wasn't as if she could _help_ it; she was left alone in a room with four of the hottest guys in Tulsa… What was she supposed to _say_? Her mind was going a mile a minute (like it always did when she was nervous), and she _still_ couldn't think of anything…

Lucky for her, though (or was it more unlucky?), it looked like she didn't have to start up her own conversation.

"So…" Two-Bit began, his signature goofy grin lighting up his face as he addressed the younger Curtis brothers, "where'd y'all pick up the broads—"

Melanie forgot her nerves for a moment to shoot him a venomous glare; hadn't they already established their hatred of that word?

"—girls!" Two-Bit finished with a sheepish glance at Melanie, hoping he'd caught himself in time. She glared at him dubiously in return, though, so he threw his hands up in mock-defeat. "Okay, you got me! Force of habit!"

"It's a bad habit…" Melanie muttered, but she shrugged resignedly all the same.

"They really found us…" Soda supplied, deciding that Two-Bit wouldn't suffer the same fate as Dallas and that it was safe to answer his question.

Two-Bit cocked one eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Pony sighed and rolled his eyes; he knew he was just allowing the jokes and ridicule he'd surely receive by explaining this, but he figured everyone would find out eventually. "One of them hit me with a rock."

Two-Bit blinked, momentarily speechless at this random revelation; only for a moment, though. In a split second, he was doubled over, howling with laughter. And in all honesty, Pony's ears were nearly as red as Melanie's (and that's saying something)…

Lucky for Pony, Darry had already exited the room to make dinner, so he didn't hear that part and wouldn't get the chance to over-react. Unfortunately, though, Two-Bit still knew… And that was almost worse.

Two-Bit finally inhaled enough oxygen to form a coherent sentence. "So… a girl hit you with a rock…?" he questioned, holding back more laughter.

"Yeah, Two-Bit."

He looked about ready to burst into more hysterical chuckles, but Melanie cut him off, using an overly-sweet tone and flashing him an angelic smile. "And you'll find out what it feels like if you don't shut up."

Two-Bit's expression calmed almost immediately; they'd all decided at this point that the girls carried out their threats. "And here I thought you were the non-violent one…"

Melanie groaned and face-palmed. "You're right; I've been spending too much time with Carly…"

"It's alright," Two-Bit reasoned, his tone dripping with false seriousness, "she sounds like a bad influence…"

"Watch it, Matthews…"

Soda grinned, lightening the tension. "You know, I think you guys are gonna get along with us real well."

Melanie returned his smile. "Really?"

Pony nodded. "Sure. You already know enough to ignore everything he says, so you should be fine," he said, gesturing towards Two-Bit.

Two-Bit frowned comically, dramatically crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm hurt, Pony. That's offensive."

Pony smirked at him. "Good."

Two-Bit opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, the screen door was violently kicked open and the missing members of both gangs (minus Dally, of course, since he was off who-knows-where) sauntered in.

"Hey, y'all," Steve greeted, setting the paper bag of pudding down on the coffee table and taking a seat on the couch. Carly followed, sitting next to him. The twins, still extremely confused, came in and stood beside Melanie.

"Hey," Soda responded casually. Before he could say anything else, however Melanie interrupted, addressing Carly and Steve.

"So, how'd you two manage to go down the road and back without strangling each other?"

Carly rolled her eyes (again). "What? You think I have to be violent with _everything_ I do?"

"Yes," the room chorused. By now, Two-Bit had guessed it was Carly that nailed Pony with a rock; he made a mental note to congratulate her personally later.

Carly smirked. "You know me so well… But seriously. I've realized that Stevie here isn't so bad." She shot him an innocent smile as his eye twitched slightly; he was really getting sick of that nickname…

"Ditto," he agreed, defeated. He'd long ago (meaning somewhere about halfway between the store and the house) given up protesting against it, anyway. And honestly, it didn't bother him so much now that she wasn't mocking him.

"Oo-kay…" Melanie decided she'd leave that subject alone; best not to question gifts, you know? "Well, I see you got your pudding…"

Carly nodded satisfactorily. "Yes. Now I'm happy."

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow and gave everyone in the room a strange look. "Well, I'm missin' something…"

Carly smirked at him and started to comment, but Ellie cut her off. "Don't say it…"

Carly sighed exaggeratedly. "_Fine_… But he totally left himself open for an insult right there!"

"True, true," Gabby agreed, mirroring her smirk.

"Anyways…" Steve interrupted, "not only did she get her pudding, but we're goin' to the movies tomorrow night."

A chorus of surprised gasps echoed around the room, but none was more prominent than Carly's. "What? We are?"

Steve smirked at her. "Yup."

"When did I agree to that?" Carly demanded, her green eyes glinting suspiciously.

"You didn't," Steve admitted smoothly.

Carly cocked an eyebrow. "Then what makes you think I'll go with you…?"

"How about because you don't hate me anymore?" he suggested, sliding his arm nonchalantly in an attempt to wrap it around her.

Carly smirked at him and bluntly shrugged his arm off her shoulder. "Nice try, Randle," she said in a sweet voice, "but we're not going on a date."

Steve sighed exaggeratedly and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but how 'bout as friends, then?" You know what the weird thing was, though? This odd feeling was sort of creeping over him… kind of like… disappointment? Whoa. That meant he really _wanted_ to go on a date with her… right? But he'd just been kidding. Whoa.

"'Kay." She let her gaze sweep the room. "Who else wants to come?"

"Me!" Melanie yelled almost immediately, and with much enthusiasm. When everyone in the room turned an amused gaze towards her, though, her cheeks flushed. "…What? I want to see what the movies from this time are really like…"

Obviously, her comment caused a bombardment of confused questions from Steve and Two-Bit ("This time period?" "What are you, aliens?" etc.), and thus everyone had to go through the entire mini-lecture again, proving that they came from an alternate universe that was ninety years in the future and in which the greasers were all fictional characters. Not too challenging, right? …Wrong.

"I must be way more drunk than I thought…" Two-Bit muttered after a long while of one-sided arguing (Steve had already come to terms with the fact that they were telling the truth; the argument was pretty convincing to him). He didn't really _sound_ drunk (meaning that his speech wasn't slurred and he could still walk in a straight line), but he was Two-Bit, and the girls had read enough about him to know that you could never really tell until he was about ready to pass out.

Gabby rolled her eyes. "Oh, get over it. I don't really care _what_ you think of us, so…"

Ellie nodded. "Whether or not you believe us, we're still here."

Melanie, however, sighed in frustration. "I don't get it… How else can I convince you we're from an alternate universe?" She was taking this disagreement very seriously, and Two-Bit's sheer stupidity and refusal to believe plain fact was seriously just… bugging her.

Two-Bit gave her a funny look. "You can't. I hope you know how stupid you sound…"

Carly shook her head sadly. "He's a non-believer, Mel…" she stated, her tone and countenance extremely serious. "Just forget it."

Melanie rolled her eyes and exhaled deeply. "Ugh! Fine! _Be_ that way!" she hissed, addressing Two-Bit. She then proceeded to cross her arms stubbornly, frowning at nothing in particular.

Soda had been watching their whole explanation with an amused look, a single eyebrow raised. (And he'd been cracking a few jokes, of course; he thought Two-Bit might listen better if everyone wasn't discussing it in such a serious manner, but no one else seemed to catch on.) At this point, though, he decided to steer the conversation back to something a little less aggravating. (Well, it annoyed one person, anyway.)

"So," he began as everyone shifted their gazes towards him. "Me and Pony'll come to the movies with y'all." He knew Pony would be fine with his involuntary attendance; he liked movies, and he probably assumed that was why Soda signed him up. In reality, though, that was only _partially_ true; he had an ulterior motive.

See, there was already at least one other girl going that was around Pony's age (and not clearly already in love with Steve… no matter how much she denied it). And, honestly, Soda was getting worried about him… Already fifteen, with a large quantity of girls who'd easily go out with him, and he wasn't interested in _any_ of them? Soda was starting to wonder if he was even a Curtis… Curtis' got girls. It was just an irrefutable _fact_. Even Darry would have a girlfriend if he wasn't always so caught up with work… But Pony? He had no excuse.

So, in short, Soda hoped to possibly play matchmaker and get his little brother his first girlfriend.

It's not like he planned to get too involved, or anything… But Pony needed a little push in the right direction if he was going to get anywhere when romance was involved. And if the way Melanie kept blushing was any indication, she did, too.

The twins exchanged an almost unperceivable glance and came to a silent agreement.

"Guess we'll come, too," Ellie verbalized, stifling a yawn. It was getting fairly late.

"Count me out," Two-Bit declined, grinning slightly. "I'm headin' over to Buck's tomorrow night. I might come find y'all if I don't get too drunk…"

One corner of Melanie's mouth pulled upwards a bit as she registered Two-Bit's excuse as the same one he used in the book when Dally had asked everyone about the movies, but she didn't comment on it. Carly, however, caught the movement and smirked in response, her facial expressions clearly saying: _"Yeah, I know. It's awesome."_

"Actually, that reminds me…" he continued. "I got a date with Kathy real soon. I should get going. See y'all later."

There was a general round of goodbyes from everyone in the room as he started walking out.

"So that means pretty much everyone's coming," Steve summarized, glancing pointedly at Two-Bit, who didn't catch the movement since he had his back turned, already halfway out the door.

Then Carly interrupted, ever the pessimist. "But there's a problem."

"You don't know how to get to the movie house?" Pony suggested.

"Yes," Carly agreed shortly.

"Actually, it's worse than that," Gabby pointed out oh-so-helpfully. "We don't even know how to get to our own apartment…"

"Yes, we do!" Ellie argued. "We've got the address."

"But that doesn't mean we can _get_ there," Melanie countered, crossing her arms. "Look, we've already had this conversation; we have no idea where we're going. Unless-"

"I think we do," Ellie insisted stubbornly, cutting Melanie off. No one really seemed to notice that she had more to say, even though she kept opening her mouth to jump into the conversation.

"Really?" Carly questioned. "Then where's Elm Street from here? Step by step directions, please, if you would be so kind."

Ellie clenched her jaw and muttered. "Somewhere back past the park…"

The greasers all glanced at each other; they knew where Elm Street was, but it didn't look like now was the best time to interrupt the girls' argument; they wouldn't have listened, anyway. Melanie had been trying to say something for a while. Besides that, it was actually pretty funny to watch them all fight…

"Oh, that's specific," Gabby criticized, her tone and expression both full of sarcasm.

"Guys." Melanie finally got a word in (one word, mind you), and everyone just ignored her; her voice was lost in the heated debate currently taking place between her friends.

"Well, at least I remembered the address," Ellie defended herself. "That's a start."

"Not a very helpful one…" Carly muttered darkly. Ellie shot her a skeptical look, so she continued. "What? You could say we live in the White House, for all I care; we still wouldn't know how to get there."

"But we can still—"

"GUYS!" Melanie yelled sharply, cutting Ellie off. "…Why don't we just use a map on my phone?"

Carly, Gabby, and Ellie all fell silent (they'd continued to mutter insults at each other) and exchanged glances. Then Gabby spoke up.

"…That could work."

"Yeah, that's probably the best option," Ellie agreed, her tone somewhat relieved; she was glad everyone had stopped ridiculing the gaps in her plan. It was annoying.

"Yeah, really," Carly intoned. "Why didn't you mention it before?" She was smirking, mostly because she knew Melanie had really been trying to say something; it was fun to annoy her.

Melanie's eyes widened in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? I couldn't! I can hardly finish a sentence when—"

"Good point," Carly interrupted, still smirking. "So we should probably get going soon…"

Melanie's cheeks reddened with frustration and she clenched her fists angrily, but she knew better than to say anything—she'd just be interrupted. Again.

Carly laughed a bit. "Oh, you're so much fun to mess with…"

"We know where Elm Street is," Steve finally revealed, cocking one eyebrow; he officially judged it safe to intervene without being yelled at. Besides, they'd already reached a resolution (more or less). "Just so you know.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask us first…" Soda added. "We're still standin' here, y'know."

"Well, you could've told us…" Gabby pointed out. "It would've saved time."

"I doubt you would've listened even if we tried," Pony argued.

"You were goin' at it pretty good," Steve commented, smirking. "It was kinda funny…"

"Didn't I warn you to watch yourself, Randle?" Carly hissed, her tone partially serious. "You're not doing a very good job."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. So do you need us to walk you there, or what?"

The girls exchanged ponderous looks, and reached a silent agreement.

"Sure," Ellie agreed, glancing at her watch. "We should probably get going…"

Soda nodded as he rose from his seat, followed simultaneously by everyone else present (who wasn't already standing, that is). "It's not that far away. Just about ten minutes."

"Good," Carly declared. "Less wasted effort." Then she turned to Melanie. "Looks like we didn't need your plan, after all…"

Melanie shot her a very irked look as she responded, "It would've worked just as well."

"Oh, really?" Gabby questioned, smirking as she cocked an eyebrow. "Were you gonna remember to search for a _1960's_ map…?"

Everyone started chuckling, since it was supposed to be a joke… (It was a pretty basic thing to remember.) But it soon evolved into full-out laughter as they noticed Melanie's surprised expression and suddenly red ears.

"Oh, Mel…" Ellie sighed, grinning in spite of herself.

"What?" she demanded, her tone defensive. "It was an honest mistake… And it's not like I _actually_ forgot…"

"But you were going to," Carly pointed out. "I rest my case. Your plan _failed_. And we didn't even go through with it. That's how bad it was."

"That's kinda sad…" Gabby added on.

Melanie sighed in exasperation. "I give up…"

Steve smirked at her. "They're right, y'know…"

Melanie narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't wanna hear that from you."

Soda grinned, still chuckling as he made his way towards the door. "Let's just get goin'."

Everything looked like it was at least mildly normal as they began filing out the screen door, Pony hollering over his shoulder to Darry that they'd be back soon. But then Steve had to go and ask the girls something…

"So, Elm Street," he began. "That's near the other side of town."

"So you've told us…" Gabby confirmed, her tone guarded.

Pony and Soda exchanged glances; the girls had gotten a bit… touchy when they last explored this topic. Surely he couldn't be questioning their social class again… right?

Apparently, wrong.

"So… are you _sure_ you ain't Socs? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that's Soc territory…"

The girls stopped abruptly (they'd just reached the sidewalk) and all turned to stare at him. He raised one eyebrow.

Then they all yelled in unison:

"Middle-classers!"

* * *

_******Notes: Alright! Another chapter up, even if it did take a while. ****The story's going to get really great from this chapter onwards—the pairings will start being defined… So, get ready!**_

_**Only one review for the last chapter... let's see if we can break that unbelievably high score, shall we? ;) I look forward to hearing from you!**_

_**Stay gold,  
****~Rae**_


	8. Shouldn't You be in School?

**[Chapter Eight: Shouldn't You be in School?]**

After Steve, Soda, and Pony dropped the girls off at their apartment, they all returned home. It was an uneventful night for everyone, since they were all extremely tired and dropped off to sleep the minute they got inside, greasers and middle-classers alike.

The girls didn't even bother to explore their new surroundings; they just split up to their various rooms (Melanie and Carly rooming together, and the twins across the hall) and collapsed into their separate beds for a good night's sleep. It was already late, and everyone wanted to get as much rest as possible, even if that meant sleeping in and making the next day a lazy, let's-lounge-around-and-do-nothing day (besides the whole movie thing)...

But obviously that didn't happen. That would be too easy.

* * *

"Mel! Mel, wake up! Mel! MELANIE!"

Melanie woke up with a scream as a pillow crashed down on the back of her head with a muffled, painful _THUMP_. She immediately leapt from the bed, green eyes wide with alarm and arms crossed over her face to shield herself from any other attacks. Then she saw who her assailant was.

Carly.

So, she did the only natural thing: took a step back and left her arms where they were.

"What was _that_ for?" she demanded angrily, noticing for the first time that her friend's dark hair was in extreme disarray. She must have just woken up.

"You wouldn't wake up!" Carly explained, tossing the pillow across the room and onto her own bed. In response, Melanie hesitantly lowered her arms. "And you stole my pillow when you woke me up last night, so now we're even."

Melanie opened her mouth to protest, then realized that she actually had ended up with the pillow, even if she didn't necessarily _take_ it… She'd gotten up to get a drink of water, and Carly had been roused by the noise, so she'd thrown her pillow across the room to express her annoyance. Melanie had just kept it; who could say no to an extra pillow? So instead, she said, "And _why_ did you have to wake me up?"

Carly crossed her arms and frowned in discomfort. "We have no food!" she whined. "And I'm HUNGRY!"

Melanie sighed and rubbed her temples. Great. Now she had to go grocery shopping with a very cranky Carly. It wasn't something any sane person would look forward.

"Alright, fine…" she muttered as she stepped towards the door and pulled it open. "Let's go wake up the twins."

After an obscene amount of yelling, grumbling, complaining, and arguing, all four girls were awake, dressed, and had sorted out a plan to tackle their list of errands. (None of them were really "morning people.")

"Okay," Melanie announced as everyone pulled on their coats. "So, me and Carly are going to go grocery shopping, and then you two,"—she gestured at the twins—"will go look for places we could get jobs. Then we'll all meet back here at four to get ready for the movies. Sound like a plan?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. They'd brought plenty of money, since it was worth so much more in the future (thank you, inflation!), but they thought it would be safer to have something to fall back on.

So, with everything worked out, the twins started out the door of the apartment with a quick "See you later!" called over their shoulders.

Melanie turned to Carly, who had been staring with both annoyance and anguish at the empty refrigerator. "Come on," she muttered as she grabbed her friend by the wrist and tugged her out the door, "let's go get you some more pudding."

* * *

"Shouldn't you be in school?"

Melanie fumbled and nearly dropped the bag of apples she was holding when the woman at the grocery store checkout counter asked her that question. What was she supposed to say? 'No, I'm skipping to come buy fruit?' The truth just wouldn't cut it. And Carly, the one who could lie convincingly, was out in the parking lot doing who-knows-what. (Apparently, she'd spotted Cherry Valance in the store and hadn't trusted herself to stop herself from throwing a punch should they run into each other. For some unexplained reason, she just couldn't stand her.)

When the girls had all decided to find jobs, it also meant deciding against going to school. In their view, it was too risky to even try enrolling: they'd need to forge signatures, make up stories and excuses about their sudden appearance… And what would they do when their parents needed to meet with the principal? No, they had no option but to avoid school altogether.

But again, Melanie couldn't tell the cashier this. So she was contemplating just saying she was a dropout (which would be immensely damaging to her pride) when she suddenly thought of a way to turn the tables and ask the questions herself.

She noticed that the girl didn't look much older than seventeen or eighteen herself (still school age, possibly)… Her honey blonde hair fell in cute, natural waves that framed her gentle, youthful face. Her cheeks had a rosy tint, but Melanie got the feeling that it was a perpetual color, and her light blue eyes glowed warmly. She had an over-all mature, motherly aura, so it was difficult to believe that she was still in school, but she _looked_ young enough. Melanie decided it was worth a shot.

"Shouldn't you…?" Melanie countered, her tone light but still serious.

The cashier laughed good-naturedly in response, however. "Actually, no. I'm twenty, but thank you."

"Oh…" Melanie muttered, glancing away from the awkward moment she'd created. "I kind of just assumed, since this is a part time job…" She clapped a hand over her mouth after saying that, realizing how impolite it could be, then stuttered out an apology through her fingers. "Sorry! I didn't mean that it was, like, bad as a fulltime job… It's just like, from what I've seen—"

"It's fine!" she finally interrupted, still giggling. "It _is_ a part time job. Actually, it's not even mine… I'm filling in."

Melanie raised an eyebrow. "If you don't mind my asking, for who?"

The woman smiled as she placed a loaf of bread at the top of a full paper bag. "I don't mind at all. This is really my younger sister's job, but they somehow scheduled her to work during school hours instead of her usual time. I don't know how it happened, but we couldn't just leave them short ended, so here I am!"

Melanie returned the smile. "That's nice of you. And thanks for bagging this stuff so well."

"No problem!" she said, still grinning.

Melanie nodded and fished around in her pocket until she'd located the right amount of bills for her total, then exchanged them for the receipt and started picking up bags. When she'd gathered about half of them, she turned to glance at the doors, hoping to see Carly.

"Do you plan to make two trips?"

Melanie's head swiveled to find the cashier staring at her worriedly. She shook her head and answered, "Actually, my friend is out in the parking lot… I'll probably just send her in for the rest if she doesn't—"

It was at that precise moment that the doors flew open and in waltzed Carly. Except she wasn't alone. A relatively tall, tan girl with light brown eyes and a head of thick, curly, red-brown hair jogged in beside her. They were laughing and chatting like they'd known each other for years, or they shared some kind of special inside joke. As it turns out, the latter was true.

Melanie smiled, relieved. However, right as she was calling out her friend's name, the cashier, wearing a stern expression that was bordering on a disapproving frown, said in a disbelieving tone, "Anna? What are you doing here?"

The tall girl next to Carly stopped in her tracks, smile already fading as she addressed the cashier. "Sara?" Then, recovering a small portion of her wits, she shot back: "What are _you_ doing here?"

Sara crossed her arms. "Filling in for you while you're at school. Care to explain why you're _not_ there right now?"

Melanie shifted uncomfortably under the weight of the paper bags she was still a holding and shot Carly a let's-get-out-of-here-this-is-a-family-thing look, but she didn't seem to notice.

Meanwhile, Anna, who Melanie had by now guessed was Sara's younger sister, looked even more uncomfortable than she felt. Sara was giving her the silent disapproval treatment, as opposed to yelling, red-faced anger. It was far more effective and cut much deeper. "Um… Well, I _did_ go… just not all day…"

"And why not?" Sara prompted, frowning.

"Well…" Anna scratched her ear nervously. "Um… There was this… rodeo…"

"I thought so," Sara interrupted, shaking her head resignedly. "How many times have I told you that you can't just skip out on obligations because you want to go ride that horse of yours?"

"This was important!" Anna protested, still on the defensive and clearly hating it. "This other girl made a big show of making fun of me in front of everyone and saying how I probably wouldn't show up anyway, since I knew I wasn't good enough to win anything…" She sighed and rolled her eyes. "And it's not like I missed anything in school. We had a field trip today…"

"That's not the point. You shouldn't have skipped anyways," Sara scolded. She then sighed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, they'd lost a bit of their troubled edge. "Now's really not the time for this. We'll have to finish this conversation later, young lady," she added with a meaningful look.

Anna nodded, clearly happy to be off the hook so easily.

Unfortunately, the sibling squabble had left an awkward silence raging in its wake, and it was a few moments before anyone even tried to fill it.

"So…" Carly said a little too loudly. "I guess it was that girl's car out there?"

"What car?" Melanie and Sara inquired at the same time.

However, Anna ignored them, answering only Carly. "No, it was this other girl's, Lisa. She said something bad about a friend of mine, so I thought I'd get even."

Sara's lips pursed into a thin line. "Anna Marie Jones, what did you do?"

"Well, I might have… slashed the tires on a cheerleader's car…"

"She's a cheerleader?" Carly exclaimed. "Awesome! I _hate_ cheerleaders!"

Carly and Anna proceeded to high five, while Melanie and Sara just stared at them, slack-jawed and speechless. Melanie recovered her senses first.

"You… helped her slash the tires… on a cheerleader's car?"

"Yeah," Carly confirmed, bobbing her head. "It was fun, too. Sorry you weren't there." She seemed to notice the pile of groceries for the first time. "Oh, should I just take this half?"

Melanie could only nod in mute disappointment, because it was Sara's turn to scold, now. "Anna, I can't believe this! You can't just go around damaging other peoples' property without expecting consequences…" She then dove into a rather lengthy lecture about the wrongs of vandalizing and how it would lead to a life of crime, ending with a warning about a serious grounding as punishment. By the time she had finished, Melanie had mentally sworn to never to even think the word 'graffiti' ever again. (Which obviously didn't work, because she had to do exactly that if she wanted to make a mental oath against it.)

Anna sighed. "I figured as much…" Then she turned back to Carly. "I guess I'll see you around. Maybe. If I'm not stuck at my house for the next five years."

Carly laughed as she started out with Melanie at her heels. "It can't be that bad! That girl deserved it!"

And with those parting words, the pair left the store. Of course, the sisters inside both heard Carly's laughter as she watched the group of Soc cheerleader girls run around frantically at the discovery of their punctured tires, but it created a very dramatic exit.

And even though they had no way of knowing it, they would definitely be running into each other again soon.

* * *

"Shouldn't you be in school?"

Ellie and Gabby exchanged worried glances, minds racing as they both tried to think up various excuses. The Dingo's waitress didn't seem at all concerned with their response, but it was still unnerving; they had no answer to offer either way.

The middle-aged woman let loose a loud, cackling laugh and added, "Just kidding. I'm supposed to ask, but I don't really care."

The twins exhaled, relieved. They did _not_ feel like explaining away their absence from school.

"So what can I get you?" she continued, bringing a small pencil up to a pad of paper so she'd be ready to write.

"Just two Cokes and two burgers," Gabby answered, drumming her fingers on the tabletop of their booth. After the waitress had left with their orders, they chatted and laughed like the sisters they were until their food came. Then it was mostly silence and eating.

Gabby, however, was still thinking about finding jobs like they were supposed to. She surveyed the restaurant with a critical eye. "Maybe we could get jobs here," she suggested, still looking around. "I mean, the pay wouldn't be too great, but I think we could—"

She suddenly stiffened in her seat and snapped her gaze to her lap, cutting off mid-sentence. Ellie swiveled her head to see what had caused this sudden shift in demeanor, and what she saw made her want to sigh, punch something, and bang her head on the table all at once.

There, on one of the stools beside the counter, sat none other than Dallas Winston. However, it wasn't this fact alone that made such an impression on the sisters; it was mostly because he wasn't alone.

No, he was sitting with a strawberry blonde-haired girl that looked to be about seventeen. The very distracting part was that they were kissing, and doing so in a way that was not admissible in public. At all. In any way.

Ellie's eyes narrowed in annoyance as she realized that the staff didn't plan on doing anything about it; the place was practically empty, and it looked like all the employees either didn't see or didn't care.

She turned to Gabby, who had suddenly found her half-eaten burger to be very fascinating. "What does he think he's doing?" she seethed. "This is a public place! That's disgusting!"

Gabby shrugged. She was great at certain kinds of confrontations, but not all. This was not one of those kinds.

Ellie let her gaze flit between Dally and her sister. She was getting seriously irked, and it didn't seem like anyone in the restaurant even cared. So she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Heaving an exasperated sigh, she stood up and yelled across the diner, "Hey, Winston! Cut it out, will you? Some of us are trying to eat!"

Dallas appeared content to just ignore Ellie, but the girl pulled away from him in confusion, looking around for the source of the outburst. So, he grunted in annoyance and swiveled around to face the person who so obviously wanted their face rearranged…

…and was more than a little surprised to see the blonde chick from the day before smirking haughtily at him, one hand on her hip.

Not only had he assumed that the bothersome person would be a guy, since he hadn't really been paying attention when they yelled at him, but he also thought he'd have known them for longer than a day.

"I don't believe I ever told you my name," he shot back coolly as he shrugged on his brown leather jacket.

"You know her?" hissed his companion, whose name was Terri. Anger immediately flashed across her face to replace the bewilderment. She curled her manicured hands into fists, but not before flicking her light red hair over one shoulder.

Dally rolled his eyes and didn't even bother to answer; he hated clingy girls.

"You didn't have to," Ellie responded cryptically. She cast a quick glance at her sister, who had slid down in her seat until she was practically under the table. There was no way Dally could see her, which was a good thing. She was banging her forehead on the table's support pole, and Ellie had to kick her in the shin to get her to stop.

She just couldn't believe her absolutely horrible luck; her sister just _had_ to go and confront the only guy she already had a bad history with. Oh, the injustice of it all.

However, he could not, in fact, see her. That meant, though, that his full attention was trained on Ellie, for better or for worse.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, raising one eyebrow.

Ellie shrugged and bluntly steered the conversation back to where it started. "Look, are you going to go find a room or what?"

Terri let out a little gasp, and her glare intensified, but Dallas just chuckled. "Jealous?"

"More like pitying," Ellie corrected with a pointed look at Terri, who appeared extremely conflicted and didn't know who to be upset with at this point.

"Sure, doll," Dally scoffed, leaning back on the counter. "So why don't you catch up with me later tonight? I won't be busy."

_Now_ Terri new who to be angry with.

She gaped disbelievingly at Dallas, and he returned a bored stare. She wanted to argue, but realized it wasn't worth the breath. So she just shook her head, still shocked, as she grabbed her purse and left with just a fragment of her dignity still in tact, her high heels clicking on the tiled floor every step of the way. But it didn't even faze Dallas.

Clingy never worked for him.

His eyebrows shot up expectantly at Ellie, waiting for her answer. More like expecting it, really. No girl ever turned down Dallas Winston.

That's why he was so surprised to see her drop some change on the counter, reach down and pull a carbon copy of herself to her feet, and start towards the door. Of course, she didn't leave without a response.

"No, Dallas." Her pale blue eyes glinted with an emotion that the blonde hood couldn't quite place. "Pitying."

And with those cutting words, the pair left the store, leaving Dally with a bruised ego…

…and a new sense of determination.

The more those two pushed him away, the more compelled he felt to chase after them. Girls just weren't immune to his charm, and now that two were, it was definitely a new concept. He decideded then and there that he'd have to find a way to change Ellie's mind about him.

Because no girl ever turned down Dallas Winston, and he didn't want just one to ruin that.

* * *

_**Notes: ...****I hope he didn't sound like a creeper. I really do.**_

_**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to everyone that will still give my story a second chance and stand by it even after I let you all down so horribly… Sorry it took so long.**_

_**Well, there was lots of foreshadowing. I love foreshadowing. And not just because foreshadowing is a fun word to spell. Foreshadowing...**_

_**That's all. Hope you didn't forget about me!**_

_**Stay gold,  
****~Rae**_


	9. The Movies Part I: Realizations

**[Chapter Nine: The Movies Part I—Realizations]**

"Hey! We're here!" Carly called as she unceremoniously kicked open the front door of the Curtis household. Ellie, Gabby, and Melanie walked in after her.

They started talking, but it wasn't long before Pony walked in from the kitchen.

"Hey," he greeted, offering a small wave.

The girls all chorused their greetings, but no one could say anything else before Sodapop trotted in, clad in slightly tattered blue jeans and an old button-up shirt while smiling lazily. "Ready to go?"

The twins both caught their breath at the sight of him… which was odd, to say the least. After reading the book, it was Ellie who had chosen Soda as her favorite (or maybe a little bit more than that). Obviously, he was gorgeous, but Gabby was a little too enthralled… She quite literally couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Ellie shot her sister a bewildered glance that had a slight tinge of a scowl around the edges. Honestly, that was really unlike her; the sisters always got along famously. They were… well, sisters. They held the strongest kind of sibling relationship in normal times… but then, these weren't exactly normal times.

In Ellie's opinion, her twin was being kind of openly selfish. She was practically drooling over Soda, even after she knew Ellie liked him… Not very trustworthy—or characteristic. Gabby was the level-headed one.

The thoughtful haze surrounding Ellie's thoughts lifted as Gabby's words cut through it: "Yeah, let's get going."

The party of six then started strolling out the door and down the sidewalk, lost in idle chatter. It was explained that Steve would meet them at the drive-in. (They'd actually been told last night, but everyone was far too tired to remember.) Then Ellie finally asked about something movie-related.

"So, what're we gonna see?"

Soda and Carly exchanged sly glances before addressing the others. "_Well_…"

The others all stared at them expectantly, some shifting uncomfortably; they were enjoying this too much.

Carly smirked right at Melanie. "There's this new horror movie out, so we thought it might be a good idea to give it a try…"

Melanie immediately stiffened, her dark green eyes acquiring a strange glint as her gaze snapped forward, resting on the road ahead. Her breathing picked up a bit, too; she was absolutely _terrified_ of horror movies, even the poor ones. She was just one of those people that had a naturally low stamina for scary things of all kind…

Everyone else glanced at each other, their faces slowly breaking into grins (except Pony, who looked kind neutral; he'd never liked horror movies that much, either, since they were quite often just a lot of screaming. Although he wasn't about to admit it, the idea of scaring himself silly _on purpose_ did not much appeal to him). This would be too much fun.

Gabby looked sideways to face her friend as best she could while walking. "Mel… something wrong?"

"N-no…" Melanie silently cursed herself for sounding so scared… but she couldn't help it.

"Really?" Ellie pressed, smiling innocently. "You seem kinda… nervous all of a sudden."

Melanie's gaze didn't waver; she refused to look at any of them, because she knew she'd break down and admit defeat the second she did. "Yeah… I'm sure…"

Soda smirked at her (she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye), and she let out a soft groan; if it wasn't just the girls that were enjoying this, she was making it way too easy for them to torture her. "Really?"

"Yeah…" she confirmed hesitantly.

"Are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with the movie…?" he continued. "You know, the super _scary_ movie… that we're about to watch…"

Melanie nervously twirled a strand of hair around her finger, a habit she'd picked up a long time ago. "S… sure…"

Carly stepped right up next to Melanie. She was tired of watching everyone play good cop; that strategy obviously wasn't working. They needed to really freak her out to get her to admit she was scared. "Really? 'Cause it's gonna be super scary… It's a murder mystery, you know. About a serial killer that always uses a chainsaw to—"

"Stop!" Melanie pleaded, squeezing her eyes shut and praying she wouldn't trip. She did _not _need those mental images… Her face had gone several shades paler and her voice was very soft as she added, "Could we maybe… not see that one…?"

Gabby looked at her, very serious, and stated, "Maybe if you admit you're _scared_. Of a fictional _movie_."

Melanie's eyes snapped open and she turned to her friends imploringly. "Do I _have_ to?"

They all nodded, smirking devilishly at her. It was already extremely clear that she was terrified of the mere prospect; but admitting it out loud was always more embarrassing.

"Fine…" she muttered. "I don't want to watch the _made up _movie because I'm scared of it. And it's not even real. Can we choose a different one, now?"

Carly grinned. "Nope."

Everyone burst into laughter at Melanie's absolutely horrified expression, even Pony. It was just priceless.

"She said 'maybe…'" Ellie pointed out after her laughter spasm had subsided.

Melanie gave them all a dirty look (the effect of which was admittedly dampened considering she was so terrified right then, but it's the thought that counts). "Fine. But if I have a heart attack and _die_, it's on _your_ consciences."

"Noted," Gabby informed her, still giggling a bit.

"Good…" Melanie muttered, her ears already reddening; since she always blushed at the slightest humiliation, it was no wonder everyone found it hilarious to scare her.

"Let's just get moving. We don't want to be late for the _horror_ movie…" Carly urged, still smirking.

Melanie cringed and everyone else snickered. Obviously, it was going to be a _long_ walk…

* * *

Once they'd arrived at the drive-in and everyone had paid their admission, it only took a minute for them to find Steve and explain which movie they'd be seeing… But obviously, Carly couldn't leave it simply at that; she just _had_ to complicate everything.

"I can go the whole movie without jumping _once_," she declared, her intense green gaze daring anyone to defy her.

Of course Steve accepted the challenge.

"Really?" he inquired, cocking an eyebrow. "I can, too."

Carly smirked at him. "Wanna bet?"

He grinned at her. "You're on. First one to get scared loses."

"You have to actually flinch or something, though," she clarified. "Oh, I'm so gonna win…"

Steve rolled his eyes and shot her a look of absolute, haughty disbelief. "You ain't gonna beat me," he scoffed. "You can't."

Carly rolled her eyes at him and flicked her bangs out of her eyes confidently. "Yes, I can." She felt that this fact was so obvious, no further explanation was required.

"No, you can't," he stated simply.

"Um, _yes_, I can!" she argued, a slight edge creeping into her voice.

"Uh, _no_," Steve echoed mockingly, "you _can't_."

Carly stepped right in front of Steve, glaring murderously and striking a threatening stance; she even prodded him in the chest for good measure. "Watch yourself, Randle," she hissed, her tone dangerous and yet joking at the same time. "Don't tell lies."

Steve raised an eyebrow and reciprocated her venomous expression. (Those hotheads were both so competitive…) "Oh, so now I'm a liar?"

"Yes," Carly confirmed, smirking wickedly. "Exactly."

Steve glowered at her. "Think what you like…"

And so started a round of playful bickering between the two. At least, it was playful by their standards. The others all glanced at each other, amused; they were just perfect.

"So, wanna go grab some seats?" Ellie suggested, looking around tentatively.

"I'm sure they'll catch up with us…" Gabby added, gesturing at Steve and Carly (who were now engaged in a shoving mach). "…Maybe."

Everyone chuckled at this; she was only partially joking, after all… No one had yet discovered why they didn't still hate each other, and they weren't entirely sure that the pair wouldn't suffer mental relapses and try to choke each other with popcorn or something.

"Yeah, we should get going," Pony agreed, glancing around at the rapidly growing crowd of people at the drive-in; it was just one of those days where lots of people came without cars, so it was fairly packed.

Soda nodded. "Well, we ain't late…" he commented, "but you're right. We don't want to miss the beginning of the movie."

"Speak for yourself," Melanie groaned, hanging her head in defeat.

Ellie smirked at her as they all started towards the seats. "You know, watching you flip out might be more entertaining than the actual movie…"

Melanie sighed in response and grumbled, "Don't remind me…" as everyone else laughed and added their agreements.

After a short while of shuffling and slight arguing, the lessened group of five had settled down in their seats, saving the two at the end of the row for Carly and Steve. Pony was at the far end, followed by Melanie, who was next to Ellie, who was to the left of Soda; Gabby sat on Soda's other side. They also decided that they'd wait for Carly and Steve before they sent someone to get snacks.

In short, they were ready for a nice, normal (if not, scary) evening at the movies…

But _that_ definitely wasn't going to happen.

Though it didn't make sense until later, it really all began when Carly returned alone. As in, not with Steve. She was smirking to herself as she sat down, so she'd obviously claimed victory in their little fight. But she offered no explanations as to Steve's whereabouts. Just a quick, "Where's the popcorn?"

"We were waitin' for you and Steve so we could ask what you wanted," Pony informed her, shrugging slightly.

Carly rolled her eyes. "Well, popcorn, duh!" she scoffed. "What else?"

"Where is Steve, anyway?" Ellie cut in, glancing around as if he might jump out from behind one of the empty seats.

"He just went to the bathroom," Carly clarified, leaning back in her seat leisurely as she propped her feet up on the one in front of her. When everyone shot her suspicious looks, wondering if she had, in fact, strangled him with popcorn, she added, "We're friends, now remember?"

There was a general murmur of assent which grew into random chatting for a while; they were actually having a very slanted debate: Soda versus everyone else on the topic of the better pop, Pepsi or Coke. In fact, most of them were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't even notice when Steve finally rejoined them, claiming the only open seat. He had to interrupt them just to get their attention.

"…'cause in blind taste tests, most people choose Pepsi," Gabby was concluding. "Even though they _say_ they prefer Coke."

Melanie looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. "Well, I think they're both so similar, it really depends on which one you tried first. Y'know, stay faithful to—"

Steve broke in, the group's attention quickly shifting towards him. "Is this really what you did the whole time I was gone?"

Everyone exchanged glances. "Yes."

Steve was at a total loss for words. They'd openly admitted they were boring; what are you supposed to say to that? So, he just shook his head and muttered, "Wow…"

Carly's eyebrows shot up. "You trying to say something, Randle?"

Steve smirked playfully at her, blunt as usual. "Yeah, y'all talk about boring stuff."

Carly grinned and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Oh, like you could do any better."

Steve laughed. "Don't tell me you ain't having fun talkin' to me right now," he prompted.

"If I say yes will you give me the armrest?" she inquired, nudging his elbow, which was claiming said armrest that their seats shared.

Steve paused, pretending to consider the suggestion. After a few moments, however, he knocked her arm away and shook his head, flashing her a toothy grin. "Not a chance."

It was Carly's turn to laugh. "It's not really your choice," she informed him, pushing his arm off the side of the rest. He tapped at her elbow half-heartedly, but it wouldn't budge.

"Alright," he sighed. "Fine. You leave me no choice." With that, he took his elbow and rested it on her shoulder.

Carly, quite uncharacteristically, chuckled a bit and tried to shrug him off, but to no avail; he had the upper hand, so to speak. Eventually, she just let out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a snort and settled into her seat, shooting him a playful look that clearly said, "I'll get you for this later."

It actually made Steve happier to know she didn't hate him anymore—it always made him hurt a little when pretty girls disliked him.

Gabby looked between the two quickly, barely suppressing a satisfactory smirk. She rose to her feet and tried to keep her voice from cracking into laughter. "So… I'm gonna go get the popcorn and stuff now." She let her gaze sweep over the collective company as she continued. "Anyone want to come…?"

Soda stood up. "Yeah, I'll come." It was obvious he couldn't sit still for much longer, and he still had the entire movie to get through… He needed to move around while he still could.

He also wanted to get to know the girls better, even if it was one at a time. That was kind of the entire point of inviting them out in the first place. They were still practically strangers, and he was too friendly of a person to leave it that way.

Gabby smiled at him, accepting his offer. "'Kay. We'll try to be back before the movie starts, but I think we only have a few minutes…" she informed the others as they exited the row of seats.

Everyone shouted out various confirmations, but they'd already resumed their previous conversation; even Steve was participating (grudgingly). Unfortunately, his contributions consisted solely of smart remarks and grunts.

The pair sauntered somewhat slowly towards the concessions area. They said they'd hurry, but neither of them really felt like rushing, so their pace was ambling. But they were having fun just talking, so it's not like they really cared.

Thus, when they reached the concessions area, they were both actually rather pleased to find that it was completely packed. Apparently, the majority of the other moviegoers had also decided that this, the final few moments before the start of the movie, was the optimal time to purchase their snacks. But it gave the pair an excuse to continue at their crawling pace, stretching out their conversation until the last possible minute.

By the time they'd significantly neared the counter, Gabby's throat was scratchy from laughing so much at Soda's jokes. Also… she became aware of the fact that every time Soda grinned at her, which he happened to do an awful lot, this fuzzy sort of euphoric feeling would blossom through the pit of her stomach… It was quite disorienting.

Soda flashed her another smile as they paused yet again behind the couple in front of them, his brown eyes glowing warmly; he was completely oblivious to the confusing signals he was sending Gabby.

She returned the grin with slightly less enthusiasm as Soda stepped forward towards some available counter space, her heart pounding against her chest. She sighed in frustration, holding her position for a moment; she wasn't holding up the line, because she and Soda had been at the very end of it.

She scrunched her eyebrows together in exasperation, willing her heartbeat to return to normal… It wouldn't. _Why_ was Soda so good-looking? It was completely distracting and emotionally confusing…

"Thanks, Hinton," she finally muttered darkly to the sky as she moved up next to Soda, who was waiting rather impatiently for an employee in front of the cash register. He shot her a questioning look, but she just smirked playfully at him, her expression sending him a message something along the lines of: "_You'll_ never know."

Soda chuckled, and she nudged him with her shoulder, also giggling. The moment was as close to perfect as she ever could have imagined it, aside from the various groups of people lounging around. But no one was paying them any attention. It was just one of those adorable couple moments…

Gabby did a mental double take. Couple? _Couple_? Had she just thought… _couple_? But that was just… no. She couldn't think of Soda that way. Ellie already did.

Upon thinking this, she proceeded to mentally slap herself. He wasn't just some thoughtless object to be claimed! Whatever happened would happen. She couldn't be so picky…

But as she drummed her fingers impatiently on the countertop, she realized something: the thought of watching Soda in love with someone else made her stomach churn disagreeably and her throat tighten uncomfortably.

Wanting desperately to avoid this train of thought, she rather forced her mind to wander until a teenaged girl of about eighteen or so stepped up to face them on the other side of the counter.

Gabby's nose immediately wrinkled in disgust. The girl was a few inches taller than her, maybe about Soda's height, although that fact could be contributed to her heinously high-heeled shoes. Her shoulder-length black hair was obviously dyed, because the dirty blonde roots were showing.

And her eyes… ugh. Gabby thought they might be blue, but she couldn't even tell, because the girl's eye makeup was so thick that it was not only distracting, but it made her eyelids droop in what she probably assumed was an attractive way. But… ugh. Again. Everything from her carefully sculpted eyebrows to her thick, fan-like eyelashes was blanketed in layers and layers of dark, smoky eye shadow. In Gabby's opinion, it was disgusting.

Then there were her clothes, which constituted an entirely new category of "ugh." And she was wearing her uniform! Gabby used to believe it was impossible to look like a tramp when your clothing was selected for you, but now she knew better; here was a living, breathing contradiction.

Her dark red, stiff-collared shirt was unbuttoned outrageously low, even for greaser girl standards, and she'd rolled up her skirt far too high.

And to top it all off, she was chewing obnoxiously loudly on a large wad of gum.

"Hey," she greeted Soda, ignoring Gabby completely to flash him a flirtatious smile. "I'm Bobbie."

Gabby rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to make a very rude hand gesture towards "Bobbie." For some odd reason, she was finding it excruciatingly difficult to abandon the sudden, violent urges plaguing her mind... which was weird, because she usually didn't even _have_ sudden, violent urges.

Soda grinned back at her, charming and courteous as ever. "I'm Sodapop, and this is Gabby."

Bobbie nodded as she leaned over the counter a bit, popping a large bubble as she did so. Gabby was absolutely repulsed and extremely lucky that Soda was there to be diplomatic, because she would have slapped this girl silly by now if she'd been alone; her large supply of impulse control was spiraling away in no time flat.

"Good to know," Bobbie commented, still addressing Soda. "So, what can I get for you?"

"How 'bout seven Cokes?" Soda replied.

"And I'd say, like… four large bags of popcorn," Gabby added, quickly doing some calculating in her head as to the amount of popcorn her friends could consume.

"I think he can handle this himself, Hon," Bobbie said in a thinly masked, degrading tone. She even shot Gabby an icy glare that, enhanced by the heavy make up, sent shivers down her spine.

"Not, it's fine," Soda reprimanded, shooting Gabby a quick, fleeting grin. "I almost forgot about the popcorn, what with all our talk about Pepsi and Coke and stuff..."

Gabby smiled back, contemplating shooting Bobbie a satisfied smirk. Soda had chosen _her_ side. Take _that!_

Meanwhile, Bobbie, who realized she was a bit of a third wheel in this particular conversation, just rolled her eyes and loudly snapped her gum again. Gabby almost wished she'd choke on it.

"Whatever. That's four twenty-five," she informed the pair in a monotonous tone, turning on her heel to grab the sodas out of the freezer on the shelf behind her.

Gabby immediately started digging around in her pocket, knowing she had more than enough to cover it with just her pocket change. But Soda, ever the gentleman, smiled at her and set on the counter an assortment of crumpled bills and coins.

"I'll pay," he announced, as if that wasn't already obvious enough.

Gabby smiled warmly at him, an expression that was returned. "Thanks."

"No problem," he answered, leaning casually against the countertop.

By this time, Bobbie had filled up all four bags of popcorn and was drumming her manicured nails on the countertop, creating a very bothersome clicking noise while glaring at Gabby in a snobby way.

She swept the money off the counter and into one hand with practiced ease, counting it quickly as she sorted everything into its corresponding register section. Gabby had to give her credit: she was amazing at her minimum-wage, dead-end, no-thought-required job. She should be immensely proud of herself.

"Here's your change," Bobbie declared, smoothly sliding the few coins across the wooden counter until they were right in front of Soda. He scooped them into his jeans pocket as Gabby started gathering the drinks, balancing all seven between her arms and hugging them to her chest.

Soda went to grab the popcorn, but Bobbie stopped him, leaning over the counter once again as she put a hand on Soda's chest.

Gabby's eyes widened in disbelief, but only for a moment; then they smoldered angrily, glaring like two envious, pale blue flames.

"So, Soda," Bobbie began, her voice barely above a whisper. She pulled a piece of paper seemingly from thin air and tucked it into Soda's shirt pocket. "Call me sometime."

Gabby was absolutely speechless. Did this irksome girl really just give Soda her phone number? She completely missed his response as a red haze of anger clouded her thoughts and a flurry of questions rushed through her mind.

Did he actually plan to call her? What did he really think of her? Was Gabby completely misinterpreting everything? Did he actually _like_ Bobbie? More than her?

…Why did this bother her so much?

"Ready to go, Gabby?"

When Soda's voice finally broke into her thoughts, she realized three things:

She had such a grip on the Coke bottles that her knuckles were white.

Soda was staring at her fixatedly with something resembling concern in his eyes (which was totally normal, since Gabby had appeared to be attempting to glare a hole in the floor with her piercing expression).

And finally… that folded slip of paper was still poking out of his pocket. Whether from politeness or sincerity, she didn't know, but it was still there.

"Why don't you go on ahead?" she suggested as casually as she could, the beginnings of an idea already drifting through her mind. "I'll catch up in a sec."

"If you're sure…" Soda agreed hesitantly. He started collecting the various popcorn bags, all the while shooting her a questioning look.

"Oh, I am," Gabby assured him, shifting her gaze towards Bobbie. It took all her willpower to keep from swearing at the sight of her, but she managed to hold her tongue. Apparently, she hadn't abandoned _all_ of her self-control...

"Then I'll meet you back at the seats," Soda declared, smiling as he turned to walk off.

Gabby nodded in response and waited until he was out of earshot before setting the drinks on the counter and swiveling back to face Bobbie.

"You want something, Blondie?" she asked bluntly, all supposed "charm" flying out the window alongside Soda's presence.

Gabby narrowed her eyes to angry slits. "Yeah," she answered in the same flat, hard tone; but she added a slight edge to it that the cashier was missing. "Save your breath and don't flirt with Soda. He's never gonna call you."

Bobbie giggled obnoxiously (she really knew how to rub Gabby the wrong way) and flicked her hair over shoulder. "Oh, really?" Her eyebrows shot up. "You two goin' or something?"

_That_ caught Gabby off guard, although it really shouldn't have. She could feel her cheeks heating up and became aware of the fact that they were drawing the attention of some onlookers. This knowledge made her jittery, her fiery determination ebbing away. "Um, no… but—"

"Then what makes you so sure, Hon?" Bobbie interrupted, smirking victoriously and snapping her gum.

Gabby searched frantically for a retaliation of her own, but nothing convincing came to mind. Why _was_ she so certain?

"He's not that kind of guy…" Gabby finally stated lamely, realizing as she said it how feeble of an argument it was.

Bobbie laughed again, deciding she'd already won; some of the crowd followed suit. "Look, kid, you're wastin' my time. Either buy something or get lost."

Gabby's temper flared once again. The mocking smirks of the other teenagers around her faded to the background as she rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she hissed as she reached out and slammed pack of M&Ms onto the counter in front of her. She grabbed a small wad of cash from her back pocket, not bothering to check the amount (she'd only brought bout ten dollars, so she wasn't too worried) and crumpled it in her fist before flinging it on top of the box. Then she leaned forward, her eyes glittering with annoyance. "And let me tell you something, _Bobbie_," she spat.

Much to Gabby's surprise, Bobbie actually froze, her expression resembling that of deer caught in headlights. Gabby hadn't even realized it, but she'd put so much venom into that one sentence that it was nearly tangible. Even the small group of spectators quieted expectantly.

"I'm warning you now," she seethed, glaring holes into Bobbie as she uncapped one of the Cokes with a swift flick of her wrist. "This…" She smirked gleefully at both the high-pitched, girlish scream that escaped Bobbie's mouth and the astonished gasps of the assembled crowd as she emptied the Coke's entire contents right on Bobbie's head. "…is the only kind of soda you're _ever_ gonna get."

Satisfied, she then picked up the remaining sodas and her candy and turned to survey her work.

She couldn't help but laugh along with the crowd.

The many, thick layers of dark makeup were now trailing down her face in streaks, and her completely-drenched hair was already beginning to frizz. And she simply stood there, blubbering and spluttering helplessly.

Gabby kept laughing as she walked away from the cheers of the onlookers, calling over her shoulder, "Keep the change! Maybe you can buy yourself some decent make up!"

But as she trailed slowly back to her seat, her laughter died in her throat, and her confident aura dimmed. True, she'd won her little fight with Bobbie, but…

What if she was wrong? What if Soda _did_ end up calling her?

She just couldn't stand the thought of Soda dating a tramp like that… He deserved better; someone who would appreciate _all_ of his good qualities, not just his admittedly movie star good looks. Like his optimism, his carefree attitude, the way he always made you smile…

Gabby caught herself and shook her head, trying in vain to erase her thoughts. She just met this guy! _Yesterday_! And yet there she was, reciting a mental monologue about him… It was madness. Madness!

And what about Ellie? Gabby wanted to kick something for trying to write off her sister. She already liked Soda after reading the book! So Gabby couldn't. Fate wouldn't be _that_ cruel…

And just when she thought that nothing could make the evening any worse after the sudden, overwhelming waves of guilt had washed over her, her foot caught on a trash can. She lost her balance, falling to the ground as the Coke bottles clattered and rolled away.

However, as she crawled around on her hands and knees, grumbling to herself and collecting the soda bottles, she stumbled across something that made her breath catch in her throat and a sudden wave of heat pass over her: a small, folded slip of paper.

She reached out a tentative hand, Coke bottles forgotten. It couldn't be… could it? Once she'd unfolded it, though, her face broke into an uncontrollable grin, because it was exactly what she'd suspected it might be: a phone number written in large, curling script.

Gabby's stomach fluttered as her emotions escalated to a single, happy euphoria. He'd thrown away Bobbie's number! Why else would it be on the floor, right beside the garbage can? He wasn't going to call her! She had a sudden urge to leap up and shout this to the sky.

And then, sitting on the ground of the drive-in, a sudden realization dawned on Gabby. It all made perfect sense: the jittery stomach, the inexplicable envy, the uncontainable joy at finding that girl's phone number abandoned on the floor…

Yes, Gabby realized something, alright: she was falling for Sodapop Curtis.

* * *

_**Notes: Well, it certainly took ****her**** long enough, huh? ;)**_

_**I've tried to keep things moving at a reasonable pace, even if it doesn't seem so. Trust me, Gabby and Soda won't magically be going out over-night. ;) I'd like to know if that's what you all think, too, though, so please tell me.**_

_**I'm really curious as to your thoughts on this chapter; leave me a little shout-out?**_

_**Stay gold,  
~Rae**_


	10. The Movies Part II: Revelations

**[Chapter Ten: The Movies Part II—Revelations]**

Melanie was trying to hide behind her popcorn.

She was the only one that was actually scared by the movie. Ellie, Carly, Steve, and Soda were all laughing at it. Yes, it was a horror film, and yes, it involved a chainsaw-wielding serial killer, but all the same, it was stupid. That was the only way to describe it: stupid; moronic; dumb. The acting was horribly melodramatic, the special effects were awful, and the camera shots were just bad.

All the same, Melanie was having trouble convincing herself to calm down. She _knew_ it was just a movie, and a bad one at that, but telling herself this did nothing to console her. It wasn't the movie itself that was scaring her; it was the concept. She couldn't help but imagine that a murderous psychopath was going to jump out from behind every dark corner…

She shuddered, sinking farther into her seat as her eyes flitted around, searching for a distraction. She just couldn't make herself look at the screen… So, she concentrated on Gabby.

Melanie's features settled on a thoughtful frown as she looked more closely at her friend. Her face was abnormally red, and she was leaning on her elbow with her cheek resting on her palm, probably trying to cover the rosy hue. Her other hand stretched over the armrest, her fingers drumming methodically. Her pale blue eyes were focused on nothing in particular, but she was obviously thinking very hard about something because she was practically cross-eyed. And finally, Melanie noticed the oddest thing of all: Gabby didn't have a Coke.

She'd thought it weird at first when Gabby only brought back six, but when she forfeited her _own_ soda, she knew something was seriously wrong. It wasn't like her to forget to buy herself a Coke… She was addicted to the stuff. And not only that, but she'd also returned a good five minutes after Sodapop, and her face had been just as red as now. She'd barely said a word and kept stealing some not-so-inconspicuous glances in his direction.

_Yup_, Melanie decided, _there's definitely something wrong here_. She made a mental note to ask her friend about it the second the movie was over.

She had begun to work out what she was going to say, purposely zoning out from the movie. Still, she couldn't completely tune out some of the more… gruesome sound effects. It was only natural that she'd be on edge…

It was about then that she felt someone prod her in the back, right below her neck.

She let out a short, terrified scream and leapt to her feet, the bag of popcorn that had been resting on her lap flying up and showering everyone in the row. Pony and Gabby followed suit, jumping up and looking around wildly. Melanie's hands flew up to cover her neck, and she took a step to her left, stopping to stand directly behind Pony. She turned around and peered over his shoulder, gripping his arm almost possessively. She was completely oblivious to the color that was rising to his cheeks and the shocked expression he wore.

"Wh… what the _hell?_" she finally stammered upon seeing her attacker.

Behind her seat, crouched down and doubled over laughing, was her so-called "friend" Carly. But she wasn't the only one to find it funny; everyone else, save Gabby and Pony (who also had no idea what was going on) was busting their guts laughing.

"I knew it! _So_ much better than the movie!" Ellie declared, clutching her side as the laughter racked her body.

Steve and Soda nodded their agreements, laughing too hard to verbalize anything.

"Well, thanks, guys," Melanie muttered crossly, her eyes narrowed. She didn't, however, let go of Pony's arm; they could still be planning something else.

"Oh, Mel…" Carly began, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye as her chuckles died down. "That _never_ gets old…"

Melanie rolled her eyes and tapped her foot nervously. "Speak for yourself. You're _always _doing this stuff to me! I mean, it's no wonder—"

"Shut up, dammit!" someone from farther down the rows of seats called. Several people immediately echoed their agreement.

"Make us!" Carly yelled back, brushing the dust from her pants after crouching on the ground.

In response, a half-full water bottle came soaring in their general direction. Its arc was low, and it would have hit Melanie and Pony if the pair hadn't dived to the ground at the last second. They ended up both on the ground, he facing forward and she to the side, Melanie somewhat in Pony's lap.

"Aw!" Gabby cooed, grinning down at the pair. "That's so _adorable_…"

Soda just grinned and gave his little brother a thumbs-up while Ellie and Carly spontaneously burst into laughter, his message clear: _Nice one, bro._

Steve smirked down at them from his seat at the end of the row, shaking his head a bit. "That's movin' a little fast for your first date, there, kid. I didn't think you had it in you…"

Melanie and Pony scrambled to their feet, their faces so red that they could easily have made tomatoes everywhere jealous.

"It was just an accident…" Pony protested, but it sounded so feeble that no one even bothered to acknowledge it. They just kept on snickering and cracking jokes at their expense… that is, until Melanie suddenly yelped and ducked down again.

"Popcorn!" she screamed as the majority of her friends took the hint and followed her lead, jumping down to use the seats as a barrier. Carly, however, didn't catch on.

"Yes, Mel, you dropped your popcorn…" she confirmed as she quirked an eyebrow in confusion. "That's why we're—"

She was cut off as a shower of popcorn rained down on them, apparently thrown from somewhere off to their left; she was forced to stop talking unless she wanted to choke to death on the little kernels.

"Thanks for ruinin' the end of the movie!" someone with a thick southern drawl yelled.

Carly fixed the stranger's outline (it was still rather dark) with a smoldering glare, obviously about to tell them off, but Gabby beat her to it.

"It was awful, anyways!" she shot back loudly, scooping up a handful of the fallen popcorn as she did so. "If you think that was entertainment, you seriously need to _get a life!"_ With that said, she brought her arm back and flung the yellow snack towards the impudent victim, smirking with satisfaction when they connected with their target.

That was when all Hell broke loose.

As if in on cue, the entire viewing audience seemed to decide that this was the signal to begin a theater-wide popcorn war. Blurs of yellow whizzed past shrieking movie-goers as they all raced around and trampled each other trying to find shelter. Somewhere along the line, what started as a belligerent confrontation became a friendly, mischievous battle… Of course, that also meant that the seven friends who had started everything were then free to divide into teams.

It basically boiled down to girls versus boys, much as it had everywhere else throughout the drive-in, and they easily divided their ample supply of popcorn. It was a relatively even match, and probably would have gone on to finish without a clear winner had it not been interrupted. (Although, Ellie was getting in some seriously awesome sniper shots from a few rows down…)

The workers had noticed the commotion and were frantically racing around, making their best attempts to shut down the whole operation. One such employee ran up to them, waving her arms and yelling, "Stop! This is a public drive-in! Food fights are not permitted!" and things of that nature. Now, normally, the entire group would have just laughed in her face, bombarded her with popcorn, and gone back to their war. This was, in fact, what most of them started to do… the key word being "most."

Melanie and Carly had completely frozen, staring intently at the seemingly random movie worker, her honey blonde hair pulled back in a braid, her blue eyes widening with recognition…

"Sara!"

The two girls ran forward, smiling, while their friends ceased fire to look on in confusion. It was the cashier from the corner store!

"You're the two girls from the grocery store!" Sara exclaimed, which helped clear some of the mystery for the others. Then, blushing a bit, she added, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your names…"

"I'm Melanie, and this is Carly," Melanie informed her, gesturing between herself and her dark-haired friend. "I can't believe we ran into you here, too…"

"Yeah, what are the odds?" Carly commented, grinning. "Do you just work two jobs?"

"Actually, I was filling in at Anna's job before," she answered wryly with a pointed look at Carly that basically added, _"…because you were busy slashing tires with her."_

Carly had the decency to look sheepish, but she wasn't really sorry… that Soc had it coming.

Melanie laughed awkwardly and said, "Yeah… Well anyways, this is Sara." She was addressing the rest of her friends, trying to guide them back into the conversation. "Sara, this is Gabby and Ellie, the twins, Steve, Sodapop, and Ponyboy." She said this while pointing to each of the group in turn, most of them nodding or waving or showing some other kind of confirmation when their name was mentioned.

"It's nice to meet you all," Sara responded, smiling amiably. Everyone seemed to decide that they liked her… that is, until she kept talking.

"Now, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're all going to have to stop this popcorn fight… It's causing a disturbance." She looked at them all expectantly, though what she was honestly hoping to happen was unclear. What she got, however, was clearly not it.

Ellie and Gabby exchanged a quick glance, sharing an affirmative nod, and then turned to back to face Sara while both saying the same thing: "Hell no."

Sara stared at the two, dumbfounded as her mouth hung open in shock, while several of the greasers muttered things like "Freaky…" and "Hey! They really _are_ twins!"

To her credit, the young movie worker recovered her wits somewhat quickly.

"Excuse me?" she prompted, giving the twins a hard stare. The two had the shame to look guilty, but not much else; there was no way they'd ever call off their fight without a winner. "It's not even your choice. If you go back to throwing popcorn everywhere, I'm afraid you'll have to leave…"

"Oh, come on!" Carly interrupted, earning herself an annoyed look that was ignored. "You're honestly still having this argument with us? Look around!" She paused to gesture wildly, her hands flying everywhere to indicate the entire drive-in. "You're the _only_ person still against it! Even the rest of the employees joined in!"

She was right. Everywhere, popcorn was whizzing around and people were hiding behind their seats; no one else was intervening, and everyone could easily pick out the red shirts of the attendants, all of whom were shrieking and bombarding each other with the salty snack.

Sara turned back to face the group of seven, who were all staring at her hopefully. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, unsure of what to say. This was her job! She couldn't act so unprofessional…

"So?" Soda prompted, tossing a piece of popcorn up into the air and then catching it in his mouth, swallowing it easily. "You in?"

She still looked unsure, so Melanie added, "We only need one more person on our team to completely overwhelm the boys…"

Sara's face broke out into a grin at this, and she finally relented. "I'm in," she told them at the same time the greasers all started shouting protests: "No you don't!" "We're still going to win!"

They all immediately divided into the two groups, everyone shooting at each other as they scrambled away to take cover. The next hour or so was the most fun they'd all had since the girls entered the book: most of the time, they were all laughing so hard that they could hardly stand, let alone throw the popcorn. When they weren't, it was because they were instigating a stealth mission; there were five of these total, two by the girls and three by the boys. All but two failed: once when Soda snuck around behind the girls in an arc and caught them off guard, stealing all their ammo and taking it back to their base, and the other when the girls did the same thing to retrieve it (they were kind enough to only take what belonged to them, mostly because it was boring when one side had it all). You would have thought that they'd think to watch their backs if the girls were desperate for weapons, but it apparently never occurred to them.

All was going well. It looked like the girls were managing to pull ahead—Gabby had managed to climb up to the roof of the concessions stand, where the boys had formed a sort of base, and was sniping them from above without giving away her position. Yes, it wouldn't be long before they got tired of it and realized that they had no choice but to surrender…

It was about then that all the girls ran out of popcorn.

"What should we do?" Gabby hissed as she slipped behind the row of seats that served as their fort, rejoining her team as they crouched down for full cover. "I already chucked the empty popcorn bucket at Pony's head!" This got her high-fives from Carly and her sister, and a miffed glare from Melanie. "Isn't there _anything_ else we can use?"

Everyone thought for a moment, but they were all at a loss. Their prospects looked bleak; it was only a matter of time before the boys realized that their cease in fire was because they had nothing _to_ fire.

Suddenly, Gabby snapped her fingers. "I've got it!" she declared, pulling a box out from under one of the seats. "I bought these M&Ms, too! We can throw these at them!"

"Well, what took you so long to remember?" Carly demanded as a handful of the colorful chocolate bits were poured into her outstretched palms. "We could've had them on their hands and knees, begging for mercy by now! They've had time to regroup!" She glanced around at all of them in turn, her face deadly serious. "They could be… right… behind us…"

Melanie started and whirled around to check, causing everyone else to erupt into laughter, but Gabby just rolled her eyes. "I just forgot, okay? Jeez, cut me some slack…"

Ellie shook her head, eyes narrowed with concentration. "It doesn't matter! The point is, we've got to attack, _now!"_

Sara looked from face to face, then stuck her head above the seats. "They've stopped firing, too!" she informed them in a frantic whisper. "What's the plan?"

"I've got one," Carly stated smugly. Then she jumped to her feet, grabbed the rest of the M&Ms out of Gabby's hands, and began sprinting across the drive-in and over to the boy's base, leaving her friends to leap up and yell after her in confusion.

When she was dangerously near the concessions stand, Steve, Soda, and Pony all ran out from behind the counter, ready to meet her. Judging by their empty hands, Carly realized that they must have thrown their last kernel, as well.

She came to an abrupt halt a few feet in front of them, smirking victoriously. "So… looks like we've got the one up."

Pony gave her a confused look. "What do you mean? We're _all_ out of popcorn."

Carly's expression didn't waver. "Yes. We are."

The greasers exchanged suspicious looks; they'd been expecting a messenger from the girls to rely a formal declaration of a tie, but that didn't quite seem to be her intent…

"So… how can you beat us?" Soda asked cautiously.

"I was hoping you would ask that," Carly told him, a playful glint entering her green eyes. The boys all tensed, ready to dive back for cover, but it was too late: she'd already begun showering them with handfuls of M&Ms. And when there was such a short distance covered by such powerful throws, those little candies _hurt._

Pony and Soda dove for cover behind the counter once again, hoping to maybe find some other kind of candy that they could use in retaliation, but Steve stood his ground.

"What's the matter, Steve?" Carly taunted as she aimed another M&M for his cheek. "Giving up so soon?"

"That's illegal!" Steve declared, ignoring her attempt to bait him. "This ain't a _candy_ fight! Popcorn only!"

Carly immediately stopped throwing so that she could fix him with a glare. "What are you talking about? You're just a sore loser!" She rolled her eyes and flicked one more M&M at his chest, just for good measure. "Just because _you_ didn't think of it…"

Steve stepped forward, returning the glare, and made a grab for the box of candy in her hand, but she held it behind her back. She didn't, however, back down; she just narrowed her eyes and stared up at him (he was taller).

"M&Ms don't count," he insisted, somewhat-gently prodding her in the shoulder.

Carly growled and elbowed him in the ribs. "Yes, they do! Just accept your defeat with dignity and you'll have less to be shamed for!"

Steve opened his mouth to retort, but in the end, nothing came out. For some reason, right at the most important moment of the battle… he'd been distracted by her looks. He seemed to realize for the first time just how pretty she was, with her dark hair and intense green eyes. He'd actually come to enjoy her company when they weren't fighting… of course, he never planned to tell her that, because he refused to think of her as anything more than a friend… or so he thought.

Yes, that's right. Steve Randle, deciding he didn't want to go out with a pretty girl? Oddly enough, yes.

To explain why, think back. He'd gone to the bathroom earlier, back before the movie started… and there was a reason why he took such a long time to get back.

xXxXx

_Steve ambled slowly out of the men's room, taking his time and shoving his hands into his jeans' pockets as he glanced at nothing in particular. He was having fun on this moving outing or whatever, but he was glad it wasn't a date… None of the girls had really shown much interest in him, and even if they had, his heart wouldn't really be in it. Sure, they were having fun when they were all in a group and they were just hanging out as friends, but if he ended up caught in some romantic shit, he'd just mess it up. Why?_

_Because of Evie._

_They'd split just a few weeks before these other girls had come from the future, and it had been the messiest break up of Steve's entire life. He could still remember the tears streaking down her face, could still hear the ringing in his ears from the intensity of their shouting match…_

_But he still didn't want her back._

_She'd broken up with him. No, that wasn't the reason—he was proud, not petty, and he knew better than to write her off completely because of a mark on his ego. No, he would never forgive her because of the _reason why_ she ended it._

_Had it been because she felt neglected? No._

_Had she cheated on him? No._

_Had he cheated on her? _No.

_But Evie sure seemed to think so._

_She'd heard a rumor that he'd been messing around with Angela Shepard. It was all lies, of course, but she wouldn't hear it, and especially not when he got so angry at her for believing it._

_Could you really blame him, though? She'd believed a stupid piece of gossip over the word of her own boyfriend. How could he be with someone who didn't trust him? That's all Steve ever wanted out of a serious relationship: trust. Mutual trust. He didn't get as many girls as Soda, and even fewer that were worth seeing more than once. If she was going to be his girlfriend, she'd have to know that he'd never cheat on her, or at least not lie about it to her face. If she thought that little of him, then of course he'd have had to set the record straight; of course he'd been mad. They were his morals being questioned, after all. He'd had a right to yell at her and want nothing more to do with her._

_But that didn't mean he didn't miss her._

_That's why, when he rounded a corner on his way back to the seats and saw _her_ standing there, looking right at him, it took all of his will power to stick to his resolve and say in a cold voice, "What do you want?"_

_He almost felt sorry for her when he saw the hurt flash through her dark eyes._

_Almost._

"_I… I came to say I'm sorry, Steve," Evie told him in a small voice, taking a few tentative steps towards him. When he didn't say anything, she let out a shaky breath and continued. "I was wrong. I know that now… Angela told me she never did anything with you. I overreacted, and I'm sorry. I should have trusted you."_

_It was all he could do to stop himself from flinching at her words. There was that word again: trust._

"_Steve…" she continued, placing a gentle hand on his forearm, "I've been a mess without you. Please… I'm sorry. Can't we just forget what happened and go back to how we used to be?"_

_Steve was silent for a long time. The two just stared at each other, two sets of dark brown eyes both holding their own—one pleading, the other accusing._

_Finally, he said something._

"_You can't do that," he told her in a tight voice as he shrugged off her arm. She took a step back, her face a mask of hurt and regret, but he pretended not to notice. "You can't change what happened just 'cause you screwed it up. This ain't a game."_

_Then he pushed passed her and walked away, towards the seats where the others were all waiting…_

_...but he still looked back._

xXxXx

Of course it hurt. But he wasn't so torn up about it that he couldn't still enjoy his time with his buddies when they went to go see a movie together; the gang was the gang, no matter what happened with his love life. He only acted abnormal and depressed like that when he was talking to Evie or thinking about "love"; otherwise, he was just his usual self, because in the grand scheme of things, one girl wouldn't make a big difference, even if he wasn't completely over her. When the girls had come along, nothing really changed, since it didn't _seem_ like he'd be getting romantically involved with any of them any time soon. Still, he couldn't deny the fact that something was different right then, facing down Carly as another one of their fights drew to a close…

He didn't know what it was that made him do what he did next, and he probably never would (after all, he'd just sworn to himself that he wouldn't think of her as anything more than a friend). Maybe it was his avoidance of all girls over the past few weeks finally catching up with him.

Maybe it was that she no longer wanted to strangle him.

Maybe it was because she made him want to forget about Evie and move on.

Maybe it was because she just looked so great right then.

Or maybe… it was because he thought he might be able to trust her, even if he didn't plan on revealing everything to her just yet.

Whatever the reason, he didn't regret it when he leaned forward, closing the small remaining distance between himself and Carly, and pressed his lips against hers.

* * *

_**Notes: CHAPTERS IN THE DOUBLE DIGITS! WHOO!**_

_**I really don't have much to say here, mostly because I just wrote a lot and have other things to do. Steve's thing with Evie was a little dark-ish-sort-of-not-really, but I didn't think it was out of character. I actually had it planned for a while now. I wanted to give his character some more depth, since Hinton barely touched it and we know so little about him. I felt like it was kind of rushed, but what can you do?**_

_**Stay gold,  
****~Rae**_


End file.
